Ten years in exile, the addictive yet apparently dull mobile game Flappy Bird returned. Developed in 2013 by Vietnamese computer programmer Dong Nguyen, the game reached international phenomenon status with over 90 million downloads on its iOS and Android. And yet amidst the enormous bad publicity, the app was pulled from app stores early in 2014.
Now, another firm has acquired the trademark and created a better reboot of the title. The new one was launched on the Epic Games Store for Android. The Flappy Bird Foundation has teased future releases in the “Flappy Bird ecosystem,” with an iOS port being a possibility, but nothing is certain.
This new release offers major differences compared to the original. Apart from the traditional mode, there also exists a brand new Quest Mode with a world map similar to Mario Bros. The game has also got lots of cosmetic aspects, such as a large range of playable characters to choose among and obstacles, similar to those clone games circulating while the original Flappy Bird was around.
Flappy Bird’s return relies on 2010s nostalgia, as seen in the game’s design and trailers that feature footage of old YouTube personalities. It is not the first time there has been an attempt to hitch a ride on the brand prestige of the original title. A spin on the game in late 2024 from the Flappy Bird Foundation on the Telegram messaging service featured controversial cryptocurrency functionality, for which Dong Nguyen distanced himself from the project.
Flappy Bird’s re-release is one of a wave of retro game franchises, and especially mobile games, returning to app stores after long hiatuses. In 2022, the original Angry Birds also made a comeback to iOS and Android devices. With the seeming ambitions of the Flappy Bird Foundation for its newly acquired franchise, more announcements are sure to come in the near future.
