Released back in May, 2013 the highly addictive Flappy Bird free mobile game has since become a true phenomenon.
Receiving a sudden increase in popularity in the early weeks of 2014, the game is still praised as one of the most mysterious successes in the mobile gaming market history. Combining a simple visual interface and an extremely hard gameplay, the game is almost pointless, yet so perfect in its design. Hitting the most downloaded free game milestone on the iOS market in January, Flappy Bird has since been removed from the official app markets. Even though, the reasoning behind the removal is yet unknown, some speculate that the creator was enraged at the constant hassling by fans that he received. Nonetheless, the game is still being unofficially distributed through various channels on multiple platforms and new clones of the game are being released every day. Thus the question so many seek an answer to, has yet to be answered. What made Flappy Bird so popular?
The Speculation
One of the biggest rumors regarding the success of Flappy Bird is that the creator used an illegal downloading pyramid to increase the game’s popularity. As the iOS market uses a unique system to determine the hottest games on the mobile market, software groups offer illegal services to boost the app sales on certain games. People speculate that the creator of Flappy Bird did just that, hiring a software group that used a software application to download the game multiple times, until it reached the most downloaded free game milestone.
The Truth behind the Lies
One of the main reasons the game was removed from the official markets, as suggested by its creator, is the constant hatred towards his game. Although hundreds of thousands of people were spending endless hours, stuck with getting the bird through the pipes, most found it to be a terrible sample of a mobile game. However, the creator may be telling the truth when he says that he never anticipated the success of his game. Most people don’t take into account the influence of gaming media when considering the popularity of a game. That being said, the answer to the popularity of Flappy Bird may lie in one infamous YouTuber called Pewdiepie.
YouTube, Flappy Bird and Pewdiepie
Being one of the most famous YouTubers, Pewdiepie is a true gaming celebrity. With a ton of subscribers, he is able to influence a big portion of the gaming media. If the popularity of Flappy Bird is closely examined, it can be seen that the game was almost unnoticed by others, until it was featured on the Pewdiepie’s channel. A simple video resulted in hundreds of downloads, which lead to an avalanche of thousands of people sharing the game with one another.
Even though it may sound simple, Pewdiepie may be the answer to the popularity of Flappy Bird. Having said that, people should start reconsidering the influence a single gamer has on a whole community and start thinking outside the box. After all, regardless of the answer to its popularity, Flappy Bird is nonetheless one of the most addictive mobile games, that managed and continues to frustrate millions of players all around the world.
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