Our joy lasted three days And now all we have left are doubts and a huge disappointment with justification. On September 12th, iGamesNews announced the unexpected return of Flappy Bird. Something surprising given that Dong Nguyen, its creator, closed it definitively ten years ago despite earning 50,000 dollars a day from advertising. At the time, we indicated that we did not know what role Nguyen would have in this initiative, now we have the answer and we didn’t like it too much.
Dong Nguyen has reappeared on social media after its last retweet appeared no less than seven years ago. The reason? To make it clear that it has nothing to do with the new Flappy Bird and much less with those who do it. What’s more, he hints that he never sold the rights and, in the process, suggests that cryptocurrencies will be involved in the return of the yellow bird. Let’s go step by step, because this is a bit complicated.
How Flappy Bird was licensed
Before continuing, it is time to make a well-deserved aside on this subject: although a decade has passed and it is possible that many will have little or no idea of the acronym for Flappy Bird
First of all, the game was not intended to be a great revolution, since it essentially consisted of crossing pipes with a little bird by touching the touch screen of the phone. And despite this, the reason that Nguyen gave for closing it is that It was too addictive and he had been completely overwhelmed by its success. Precisely for this reason, even though he did not exploit the game commercially, he had no interest in selling it either. In fact, he did not do so.
Through Twitter, cut any ties that could bind or relate you to the new Flappy Birdbut makes it clear that what is being done not only does not have its approval, but at no time did it grant, sell or delegate the brand or the rights of use.
“No, I have no relation to their game. I didn’t sell anything. And I don’t support cryptocurrencies either.”
So how did the bird end up changing hands? According to the records There was no acquisition of the trademark from the United States Patent Office Flappy Birdbut Gametech Holdings LLC acquired it because Dong Nguyen had not used it for years. As surreal as that may sound.
In other words, rather than obtaining the license, the developers of the new game took advantage of the fact that it was no longer in use to claim it with the intention of exploiting it commercially. However, that’s not all.
We have come across blockchain
So, What are cryptocurrencies doing here? Dong Nguyen not only claimed that he had nothing to do with the project, but he also made it very clear that he was not in favour of this type of currency. And that brings us directly to what has been found on the new Flappy Bird website itself.
As reported by media such as Forbes e Insider gamingamong the files and contents of the new website Flappy Bird More than new levels, modes and birds have been discovered: there will be loot boxes and a message that unequivocally evokes integration with the Solana blockchain platformusing the iconic bird as a springboard to enable a market for buying and selling assets.
“The legendary Flappy Bird is back and will be flying higher than ever on Solana as it ventures into Web 3.0. Artists, developers, and creators can build, play, and earn money with the legendary Flappy Bird IP.”
Flappy Bird Foundation, who claim to be the legal holders of the rights to Flappy Bird They have not been revealed yet, but, as seen in the trailer itself, you can see an in-game store, very particular models of Flappy Birds reminiscent of NFTs, several features mentioned and not yet announced, and of course, the loot boxes. In addition to a shop as the first button on the world map.
Game Over? The Ball Is in the Flappy Bird Foundation’s Court
What conclusions do we reach? To begin with, obtaining the license itself, bypassing its creator, is something really very questionable. And to rely on it for anything more than resurrecting the game is downright ugly. Very ugly.
However, we find that no explanations have been given yet, that the game has not come out (so none of these features are enabled) and that its release is scheduled for 2025. Although, to be fair, if all of the above is confirmed and we do not backtrack on certain things, the new Flappy Bird will go from having an easy hit to a truly complicated panorama. And not only the one generated around the image of the video game itself.
In any case, the ball is in your courtthings don’t look good at all and everything points to this being just the beginning of a new soap opera. And despite the disappointment and the bad, it will be interesting to see how everything ends up being resolved.
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