‘Flappy Bird’ Relaunches Without Crypto Elements After Divisive Telegram Return

Popular mobile game Flappy Bird launched in the Epic Games Store for Android this week, but the game’s latest reboot doesn’t contain any crypto elements—despite plans to launch a token tied to the now-shuttered Telegram version.

The tap-to-flap game maintains its classic mode that asks users to navigate a pixelated bird through a continuous field of pipes, as well as introduces a quest mode in the “Web-2 only” release. 

“The Flappy Bird app available on Epic Games Store will never have any Web3 elements, and is supported solely by ads and in-app purchases,” a statement about the game’s launch reads.

First launched in 2014, the viral game amassed more than 50 million downloads before being removed from the App Store by creator Dong Nguyen. The developer said he felt guilty for creating such an addictive game, and did not want to face the public scrutiny about it.

Last September, a new Flappy Bird Foundation—which had acquired the trademark to the game—brought it back as a Telegram crypto game. At that time, a spokesperson for the Foundation told Decrypt that Telegram’s platform aligned “perfectly with our vision for bringing Flappy Bird into the Web3 space.”

But the game’s launch and accompanying mining campaign for an eventual FLAP token on The Open Network (TON) were met with broad criticism, including from Nguyen, who ended a seven-year posting hiatus on X (formerly Twitter) to distance himself from the Telegram project. 

“No, I have no [relation] with their game. I did not sell anything,” he posted. “I also don’t support crypto.”

Furthermore, despite the success of many tap-to-earn games as mini apps on Telegram’s messaging app last year, Flappy Bird did not appear to amass the millions of players that earlier games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat did. 

Earlier this month, the Telegram version ended its mining phase, a period in which users can play the game to earn eventual rewards. And while the bio for the Telegram bot still mentions a “future airdrop,” formal news of a token launch is nowhere to be found. 

The official X account for the Flappy Bird Foundation made it apparent that there is no token at present time, as well as no current Web3 game.

“There is currently no official Flappy Bird token. Any token claiming to be the official Flappy Bird Token is a scam and has no affiliation with Flappy Bird,” the account posted on Tuesday. “Any Web3 game claiming to be the official Flappy Bird Web3 game is a scam.”

While the Foundation’s account distanced the latest version of the game from Web3 by using its newer, little-followed Flappy Bird Publishing subsidiary’s account to announce its launch, it didn’t definitively rule out future Web3 announcements.

Instead, it told followers that “any news or announcements around Flappy Bird Web3 initiatives will be shared from this account.” 

A representative for the Flappy Bird Foundation did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

Edited by Andrew Hayward