Sad story of how Flappy Bird ruined millionaire creator’s life as game is set to come back

For a brief and beautiful time, you could download Flappy Bird on your phone and while away the hours in frustrating efforts to navigate a bird through a series of gaps without collision.

The game itself was simple, all you had to do was tap to flap.

Guiding the bird between the gaps was a difficult but doable task and if you screwed it up you would be more likely to blame your own lack of timing rather than any obnoxious design on the game's part.

Flappy Bird proved to be an unexpected hit - by January 2014 it was the most downloaded free game on Apple's App Store and was making $50,000 (£38,000) a day in ads and purchases.

It was a simple game, tap the screen and the bird flaps (Flappy Bird)

However, just a month later at the height of its popularity, game creator Nguyen Ha Dong - also known as Dong Nguyen - decided to pull the plug on his creation, saying on Twitter it was 'a success of mine' but 'also ruins my simple life' and that he'd come to hate it.

That bird when tapped would flap no more, and Flappy Bird was pulled from the App Store and Google Play.

A slew of copycat games which tried to fill the vacuum were swiftly taken down and there was only really one Flappy Bird, with phones that still had the game on it being put up for sale at huge prices.

Now, rising like a phoenix from the ashes more than a decade since it was taken down Flappy Bird is making a return.

According to IGN, a group called The Flappy Bird Foundation - which does not include the game's original creator - have acquired the rights and trademark to the game with a plan to release a new version of the game in 2025.

There have even been discussions about new game modes, characters and even multiplayer which is a bit of a stretch from the simple charm of the original game.

Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen isn't involved with the game's revival, and said he'd come to 'hate' the game (Nello / YouTube)

Dong Nguyen isn't named as being involved with The Flappy Bird Foundation, and it's perhaps unsurprising considering the attention the original's success brought him.

Many people complaining that the game was too hard decided to personally message him about it.

The Vietnamese creator was also stalked by paparazzi who camped outside his house and wouldn't leave, while he was accused of writing fake reviews to boost the game's popularity... not that Flappy Bird needed it, that is.

Parents complained that their children's lives were being ruined by Flappy Bird, while someone even claimed to have lost their job after becoming addicted to the game.

This is why the Flappy Bird creator decided enough was enough and pulled the plug.