Original Flappy Bird developer not involved with rerelease

Flappy Bird has officially returned, now playable on Telegram — but things aren’t exactly soaring for the 10-year-old viral game.

The Flappy Bird Foundation, a so-called “new team of passionate fans committed to sharing the game with the world,” announced Thursday that it was reviving Flappy Bird. The original game, first released for iOS in 2013, was taken offline by creator Dong Nguyen after allegations of plagiarism and concerns over the addictive nature of the game, as well as the major stress it was causing Nguyen. Recreations popped up in its place, but none reached the massive heights of the original.

Thursday’s announcement originally raised some excitement over the triumphant return of Flappy Bird, but expectations were quickly tempered when former players and fans realized that the original creator wasn’t involved. Game developer Sam Chiet posted to X shortly after the announcement with a link to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which shows that a company called Gametech Holdings picked up the trademark rights after the USPTO marked them as abandoned. On Sunday, Nguyen confirmed they hadn’t sold the rights to the game: “No, I have no related with their game [sic],” he posted on X. “I did not sell anything. I also don’t support crypto.”

Prior to that message, it appears that Nguyen had not posted on X in seven years.

Though Flappy Bird Foundation was clear in its news release that it was a new team that was not involved originally, its tweets could be construed otherwise, writing as Flappy Bird itself: “I AM BACK!! Just a decade ago, I was the talk of the town and soaring to new heights with my 100 million friends. Sadly, I had to leave the fame and spotlight behind to go home and find out who I really am.”

With regards to crypto involvement in Flappy Bird, the Flappy Bird Foundation has been vague on that, too — at least in its social media and news release. Flappy Bird is currently playable exclusively on Telegram, a messaging application, a detail that was removed from its Linktree. The Flappy Bird website has also been scrubbed of any mention of cryptocurrency, Solana tokens, or Web-3, though it’s not a secret it’s available on Telegram. An earlier version of the website said “artists, developers and creators can build, play and earn from the legendary Flappy Bird IP,” and that “Flappy Bird will now be the world’s first open-source, community owned Web 2 and Web 3 game.”

The version of Flappy Bird on Telegram works on the TON blockchain, and players have the option in-game of connecting to their crypto wallets, Polygon has confirmed. A crypto wallet is not required to play. Flappy Bird Foundation is currently running a rewards-heavy “Flap-a-TON” point mining event to generate hype for the game, which includes access to a new game mode called Flappy Bird Rivals, where it appears a bunch of players — 99, according to the developer — play together; in Polygon’s test, the other players appeared on-screen like ghosts. Like tap-to-earn Notcoin, which is involved with Flappy Bird on Telegram, players tap to generate points. There are also ads a player can watch to earn more.

Flappy Bird doesn’t have a release date for other platforms. Flappy Bird doesn’t appear to have launched fully on Telegram, either — the “Flap-A-TON” event is posited as a way to earn points before the full launch.