Developer takes popular game Flappy Bird offline

The Vietnamese developer of the popular game Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, has removed the game from the App Store and Play Store. Nguyen previously said he couldn’t handle the publicity that came with the game’s popularity.

The developer of the game has not built in a kill switch, so whoever has already downloaded it can continue to play it. However, new gamers can no longer download the game. Dong Nguyen, the Vietnamese developer of the indie game, already announced on Saturday evening that he would be removing the popular game. “I can not handle it any longer”, wrote the developer on Twitter. He had previously urged the media to leave him alone, apparently to no avail.

Nguyen told The Verge that he was making $50,000 a day with Flappy Bird, thanks to the in-game ads. His simple yet difficult game suddenly became hugely popular in the past month. In the game, the user has to tap on the screen to keep a bird in the air and guide it past obstacles.