“Flappy Bird” was deleted from the App Store and Google Play earlier this week, but you can still play the game elsewhere.
The game is available on several Flash game websites, including Kongregate and Agame.
Creator Dong Nguyen of Vietnam recently elaborated on his decision to take down the game.
“Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” he told Forbes. “But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever.”
It was reported that Nguyen was making about $50,000 per day on in-game ads. “I don’t know the exact figure, but I do know it’s a lot,” he said.
Nguyen said he still has top games in the app store, including Super Ball Juggling and Shuriken Block. He said he won’t remove those games.
He said “Flappy Bird” was too stressful for him. “I couldn’t sleep,” he said, adding that “my life has not been as comfortable as I was before.”
“I don’t think it’s a mistake,” he said. “I have thought it through.”
There’s a number of clones of the game, but Nguyen doesn’t appear to mind.
“I have tried playing Ironpants,” he said of one clone. “It’s a good game.”
AP update on creator’s decision:
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The young Vietnamese creator of hit mobile game Flappy Bird has removed it from the App Store and Google Play saying it ruined his life.
The game which was uploaded in 2013 but only surged to the top in downloads earlier this year was removed early Monday.
The success of the game that based its appeal on being simple and also maddeningly difficult made its creator Nguyen Ha Dong, 29, a minor celebrity.
The game was downloaded more than 50 million times on App Store alone. In an interview with The Verge website, Dong said Flappy Bird was making $50,000 a day in advertising revenue
But tech blogger Carter Thomas said the sudden popularity of Flappy Bird might have been due to use of fake accounts run by computers to create downloads and reviews.
Thomas said he couldn’t prove his suspicion and that the success of Flappy Bird might also be explained by it being “just a wildly viral game.”
Dong, from Hanoi, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the Internet sensation caused by the game “ruins my simple life” and he now hated it.
“I will take Flappy Bird down. I cannot take this anymore,” he wrote.
Dong had agreed to talk to The Associated Press about the game in an interview scheduled for Friday, but canceled.
On Twitter he didn’t address the inflated downloads allegation but denied suggestions he was withdrawing the game because it breached another game maker’s copyright.
“It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore,” he wrote.
