The Rise and Fall of Flappy Bird

Watch as the notorious game's App Store ranking surges from country to country, reaching the top spot just as its developer decides to pull the plug.

Published May 23, 2014

App Store Rank In Select Countries

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Flappy Bird was released on May 24, 2013 and was largely unknown for months.

By early December, the game gained traction on Apple's App Store, ranking in the store's top 1,500 games in the U.S.

The difficult nature of the game inspired a slew of tweets from frustrated players.

For example: “flappy bird makes me wanna punch myself repeatedly”
- @baileynier_ December 04, 2013

“That Flappy Bird game is so damn dumb and annoying, but for some reason I keep playing it”
- @nickbads21 December 27, 2013

“Whoever created flappy bird
has a sick sick mind”
- @Caitlyn_Heath January 4, 2013

“flappy bird is possibly the most frustrating game ever made”
- @gracepena17 January 11, 2013

As the game's popularity spread, many complaints were directed at its creator, Dong Nguyen, and he grew overwhelmed.

Soon after Flappy Bird became a hit, Nguyen tweeted: “I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.”
- @dongatory February 8, 2014

By Feb. 10, Flappy Bird had disappeared from Apple's App Store. However, Nguyen told CNBC in May that he plans to release a revised version.

Sources: App Annie, Twitter

GRAPHIC: KEITH COLLINS / BLOOMBERG VISUAL DATA