Flappy Bird is one of the most beloved games of all times, apart from being fairly simple the game is a lot harder to play than it seems. As you go through the game and the levels get a lot harder than it looks, one single click and you will find yourself in the beginning. An absolute thriller that takes you on a ride of its own.
The game was developed by Dong Nguyen in Vietnam and was published by DotGears Studios in 2013. Within a matter of weeks, the game was widely popular around the world, bagging 50 million downloads by January 2014. Making flappy bird one of the best top free games on the Apple and Android Play store. Even with such a high playmate, do you know how much Flappy Bird really generated?
According to the author, the game generated $50’000 per day only using in-app advertising. While the game was criticized for creating a design similar to Super Mario. Stating that its addictive nature is the only reason people play the game, pushing the developer to remove the game from the Apple and Android store.
Key Data Points of Flappy Bird Game
- The Verge reported that Flappy Bird generated approximately $18 million per year.
- By January 2014 the game grabbed around 50 million downloads – all around the world.
- The game got 68’000 reviews in the app store alone.
- It was considered to be the No.1 free game in the app store in 53 different countries.
- The games found had 148k followers on Twitter alone.
The downloading rate for Flappy Bird was growing rapidly in January 2014 but dropped when the game was removed without a reason. If the game would have stayed on the market it was expected to break phenomenal records, even become one of the most played free games of all time.
However, after the game was taken down the users that owned pre-installed copies took to eBay to sell their devices. Allowing other flappy bird lovers to take on the game on their device. A great sales point that generated crazy revenues on online selling platforms. Most iPhone and iPads with Flappy Bird sold for double their original price.
App Annie suggests that the boost in sales for Flappy Bird was just due to bots. Adding hype to the game before it all dropped out. Generating organic downloads is not easy, so at times developers take on bot farms to create a certain hype around the game. Which is what seems to have been done to Flappy Bird.
Canadian software developer Conner Sauve created a graph to show success and failure rates. He logged 419’000 times of attempts made by different users. One played the game for approximately 200 times, and could never get past 15 seconds. Additionally, the statistics show that users who got good at the game stopped playing, and users who struggled kept coming back for more.
There was a revised version of the game called Flappy Birds Family, that came to life in August 2014. While figures of the game have not been released, it is said to be a success. As it brought back the conversation of Flappy Bird.
While Flappy Bird will stay as a rare example of short term success, it shows how short term success can be a worldwide hit! Even the second-hand versions of the game were great revenue generators with horrible graphics and poor handling. So we can only imagine what the game would have brought for itself and players around the world!
