HANOI, Vietnam, Feb. 9 (UPI) — A Vietnamese video-game developer refused to comment on his decision to pull his popular “Flappy Bird” application from the Internet.
Dong Nguyen repeated to Britain’s the Guardian this weekend that he was uncomfortable with the attention he was getting as “Flappy Bird” took off among smartphone users worldwide.
The newspaper said Nguyen declined to directly address speculation he had deployed a computer “bot” that inflated the game’s popularity by automatically downloading it thousands of times.
“I respect all other people opinions,” Nguyen said in a telephone interview. “I won’t give any comment for this article. I’d like to make my games in peace.”
The Guardian said the speculation among gaming fans was fueled by the slow start “Flappy Bird” experienced when it was released in May. Downloads suddenly surged in December, making it one of the most popular apps on the market.
“Flappy Bird” had been available for downloading at no cost, but Nguyen was still taking in about $5,000 a day in advertising revenues, the Los Angeles Times said.