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Gamers have been left in a flap after gaming app Flappy Bird disappeared from existence on Sunday – but fear not, as the game can still be yours on eBay for a respectable £1,000.
After reaching dizzying heights of success by becoming the top free iPhone app at the start of 2014, it wasn’t long until Flappy Bird became everybody’s favourite/most addictive pastime; however, after hinting that its sudden rise in overwhelming popularity had become a burden, the game’s creator removed it from Apple’s iOS App Store and Android’s Play Store over the weekend.
Posting the tweet on Saturday, Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen wrote: “I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.”
Shortly after pulling the plug on his best-seller, fans of the game took to social media to petition for its return – with hashtags of #RIPFlappyBird and #SaveFlappyBird trending on Twitter.
Yet for those who have yet to navigate the game’s fuzzy hero through a series of unwinnable levels, there’s still hope. So long as you have an eBay account and are willing to pay up to thousands of pounds for this gaming experience, then simply head to the online marketplace where you’ll be able to bid on your choice of second-hand phones with the unavailable app installed.
Numerous listings with the game pre-installed on a variety of devices have received bids within the £350-£550 region, while one 16GB iPhone 5 has racked up an impressive 60 bids with a price tag of a staggering £50,000.
The 8-bit inspired game, complete with Mario-esque pipes, had been downloaded over 50 million times – with Nguyen reaping as much as £30,000 a day from the app’s advertising revenue. But despite Flappy Bird flying the digital coop, Nguyen has said that he would create a sequel and still intended on making games.
