Recently many mobile games in AppStore and Android Market are getting more popular among users. PC games, once mainstream of the the game industry, are encroached by mobile games. According to a survey by Mocospace, 46% of gamers are spending more time playing mobile games this year than last year while 23% of those are spending more time playing PC games.
Mobile games try to intrigue gamers’ interests by stressing simplicity. On the contrary, PC games or video games pursue complex and sophisticated functions and resolutions. After the hit of Angry Bird, a lot of users stick to playing games on their smartphone while they are on the move or relaxing on their own. Interestingly, some characteristics of mobile games, the narrow display and low performance, are no longer weaknesses. Rather, recent mobile games that become popular are focused on simple functions and easy control. Flappy Bird was one of these kinds of mobile games and it was developed in only a couple of days by one developer, Mr Nguyen. This game became viral by many users for its notoriousness until the developer removed it from all app stores. What made this game so popular?
Flappy Bird (Source: technologytell.com)
Everyone who played this game always complained about its difficulty. There was even a rumor that a young boy killed his other brother because he made fun of his lower score of Flappy Bird. Although it is a totally fabricated story, it demonstrates well how difficult the game is. This Vietnamese developer chose extreme difficulty as a way of enticing gamers and it worked. When there is a task or work to be completed, people try to finish it. If the task is excessively difficult, some people give up and others keep sticking to solve it. Throughout the process, people talk to their friends how tough it was whether they keep trying it or not.
This developer removed his game, which was so popular and lucrative that he earned $50,000 a day from its advertisement profit. He did not mention why he decided to remove the game. Some people assume there was nefarious blame against him and he might want to be free of any negative argument. Others are saying this is another psychological strategy for the next game. Considering the rapid change of popularity cycle in the mobile game industry, it might be better for the developer to promote his name as a successful game developer before Flappy Bird entirely loses its popularity.
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Game: http://vator.tv/news/2012-01-06-half-of-gamers-spend-more-time-playing-on-mobile-vs-pcs
News about Flappy Bird: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26114364