The triumphant return of Flappy Bird turned out to be not particularly triumphant after all. The original creator of Flappy Bird says he has nothing to do with the new game, and further investigation revealed worrying crypto ties.
Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen took to Twitter/X for the first time since 2017 to say he’s not connected with the new Flappy Bird game. Nguyen also wrote “I did not sell anything. I also don’t support crypto.”
No, I have no related with their game. I did not sell anything.
I also don’t support crypto.— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) September 15, 2024
The tweet came a few days after a group calling itself the ‘Flappy Bird Foundation’ announced the return of the hit mobile game. The foundation said it acquired the rights from Gametech Holdings, LLC. However, Twitter user ‘Samperson’ uncovered that Gametech scooped up the trademark in 2023 because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office considered it abandoned.
Given the website and trailer pushed by the foundation frame itself as a return from the original creator, this feels particularly icky, but it gets worse.
“But why would Nguyen sell the Flappy Bird Trademark??” “Hope he got his bag”
Looks like he *didn’t*.
It seems like it’s been long enough that the trademark was considered abandoned, so Gametech Holdings LLC filed against him, and just. Grabbed it for free. pic.twitter.com/EwVzuOLcHm— Samperson (@SamNChiet) September 12, 2024
Cybersecurity researcher Varun Biniwale dug into the foundation’s ‘flappybird.org’ website and found many ties to crypto, such as mentions of a “$Flap” crypto token, “Solana” (a blockchain platform), “Web 3.0,” and more. Biniwale also managed to access some early prototypes of the game and found prompts to connect crypto wallets in one version of the game. The game also appears to have loot box-like mechanics.
So to sum things up, a decade after Nguyen took down Flappy Bird over concerns it was too addicting, a company scooped up the abandoned trademark, put together a release announcement framing the return of the game as something connected to the original creator, and prototypes are jammed with crypto and addictive game mechanics. Cool.
It remains to be seen what happens with the new Flappy Bird game, but it seems like if it does come out in 2025 as promised, it’ll just be another clone but with a crypto grift layered on top.
Source: Dong Nguyen (Twitter) Via: The Verge, Varun.ch
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