10 years after Flappy Bird's creator declared "I cannot take this anymore," the "Flappy Bird Foundation" has bizarrely snatched the rights to bring the game back to life

Sep. 12, 2024

Somehow, Flappy Bird returned

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10 years ago, the free mobile game Flappy Bird suddenly became a viral hit - and was just as suddenly delisted when its creator began to fear that it was too addictive for its own good. Now, a group calling itself the Flappy Bird Foundation has snatched the rights under some strange circumstances and is bringing it back with a host of new features, some of which might be a little… questionable.

“The Flappy Bird Foundation Group and affiliates have acquired the official Flappy Bird trademark rights from Gametech Holdings LLC,” the new devs say in a press release, “along with the rights for the original game and character Piou Piou vs. Cactus, the mobile title that has long been credited as originally inspiring the iconic bird.”

Here the devs are attaching the trademark rights to Gametech Holdings LLC - not Nguyen himself. As Sam Chiet notes onTwitter, it appears that Gametech managed to pick up the Flappy Bird trademark because Nguyen simply… didn’t bother to defend it. The rights were then transferred to this Flappy Bird Foundation, and you’d be forgiven for thinking it all looks a bit weird.

But don’t worry: it gets weirder. Back on September 6 - nearly a week before the re-release was announced - the newly christened ‘official’ Flappy Bird account was out chatting blockchain gaming onTwitter. That doesn’t necessarily mean the new Flappy Bird will be a blockchain game in itself, but between that, Nguyen’s guilty conscience over the original, and the bizarre circumstances under which the trademark found its new owner, it’s tough to feel good about this comeback.

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