Flappy Bird Shut Down Is A Marketing Strategy, Says Forbes’ Paul Tassi; Writer Says Game Creator Dong Nguyen Is A Lottery Winner Rather Than A Talented Author

I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore. - Dong Nguyen, Flappy Bird creator

These are the words that set the world abuzz a day ago. Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen said that he is shutting down the popular rage-inducing game because he is not happy anymore with the attention it is getting. Many people are worried that they won't be able to download the addicting game anymore. A twitter page called SaveFlappyBird was even set up to foil Nguyen's plans.

While many thinks it is wrong for Nguyen to get his game out of Android iOS stores, Paul Tassi, a tech and games expert from Forbes online, thinks everything that the Vietnamese game developer said are just marketing stunts.

"But intentional or not, Nguyen's announcement of the removal of the game has turned into what could possibly be the most genius act of marketing in the history of the app market," he wrote.

Tassi also showed statistics proving how the supposed 'shutdown' spiked up numbers concerning Nguyen's game.

Before the announcement, Flappy Bird only has around 75,000 reviews from the Google Play store. Now, it has around 146,000 reviews. Nguyen's Twitter account also benefited from the buzz, getting 60,000+ Twitter followers in just one day.

Tassi compared Nguyen's move to Disney Vault wherein the entertainment company make copies of their movies scarce. As a result, followers of those movies "would make sure they had all the copies they wanted, or those who hadn't seen it would pick it up to not miss out."

 

He also does not believe in Nguyen's reasoning, saying "even after its removal from the store, it will continue to bring in revenue."

He also took a jab at Nguyen's talent in developing games.

Perhaps it's more accurate to view Nguyen as a lottery winner rather than a talented author or singer who finally hit the big time. He bought a ticket by making his simplistic game, and through nothing short of magic and luck, it exploded. And I don't think I need to tell you that many people who win the lottery end up having their lives ruined by the windfall.

 

Update: Nguyen has officially removed the game from app stores. 

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