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Flappy Bird has just been revived after ten long years. The original developer, Dom Nguyen, had taken the original down from official stores due to the game’s virality and addictive nature. After allowing the initial trademark to expire, the Flappy Bird Foundation picked it up, hoping to turn it into a totally different experience, this time with an emphasis on blockchain.
Court documents reveal that Gametech Holdings had pinched the trademark from Nguyen after the original developer missed refiling for it. The Flappy Bird Foundation, spearheaded by game designer Michael Roberts, then purchased it from Gametech.
Roberts is studio head at 1208 Productions, which he says “spearheaded the return of Flappy Bird.” It is a “pioneer in the web 3 space … responsible for generating $75m in revenue,” and it also has strong links to NFTs. Jordan Belfort (the stockbroker The Wolf of Wall Street is based off) is also advertised as a previous collaborator with 1208.
In Inverse’s investigation of the acquisition, they bring to light the emphasis of microtransactions; phrases such as “revamp the game’s ecosystem” are put forward as evidence. Michael Roberts X/Twitter page is indicative of something else – crypto. A quick scan will reveal plenty of tweets on DogeCoin, Bitcoin, Elon Musk, and plenty of AI-generated imagery.
Varun Biniwale, a Canadian cyber-security researcher based in Switzerland, discovered a webpage not findable from the Flappy Bird website, though a part of the website sitemap.
“The legendary Flappy Bird is back and will fly higher than ever on Solana as it soars into Web 3.0 … Flappy Bird will now be the world’s first open-source, community owned web2 and web3 game … Build, create, play and stake to own,” the landing text reads. There is also the promise of “free airdrops” if you sign up to the newsletter, with “crypto entusiast” one of the personalised options available – yes, ‘entusiast,’ not enthusiast.
Biniwale’s investigation also goes on to find a playable version of the game, alongside the revelation of a leader-board that already features several entrants, most with crypto-related usernames.
There’s something to consider here. The existence of the above web-page was tucked away in the website, virtually impossible to find if you weren’t deliberately looking. In all of the copy, promotional material, and advertising for the new ecosystem, there has been no mention of web2, web3, Blockchain, or Solana.
The look to monetise Flappy Bird has already been criticised, though the development of the game into a crypto pipeline is even more endemic of the state of video games right now. The industry is slowly having its creative roots chopped at; Flappy Bird in 2024 is another brutal reminder that video games are an economy now, not an art form.
We have reached out to Michael Roberts for comment.
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