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| The Flappy Bird mobile app has topped the App Store and Google Store charts. — Photo mashable.com |
HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Flappy Bird, a mobile game developed by Vietnamese programmer Nguyen Ha Dong, has topped the App Store and Google Play Store charts.
The game made its way to the top 10 lists of the two electronic stores during the last month.
With 50 million and over 10 million downloads from Apple Store and Google Play Store as of February 6, respectively, the app is also raking in some US$50,000 daily from in-app ads for its Vietnamese developer who lives in the capital city of Ha Noi, reports Tuoi Tre newspaper.
The 894-kb app has got over 47,000 reviews from 591,300 ratings in App Store, the same that apps like Evernote and Gmail get, and 291,750 reviews in the Google Play Store.
The game is quite simple: a player has to tap the screen to propel a tiny bird upwards. If the bird hits any green pipes that block its way while flying to the finishing line, the game is over.
Dong said his Flappy Bird is popular because it is different from other mobile games, and is a good game to be played against friends.
"People in the same classroom can play and compete easily because [Flappy Bird] is simple to learn, but you need skills to get a high score," he told the US newswire.
He added that as the app is compatible with Apple's Game Center and Google's Google Play Games, it's easy to compare scores with friends and share the scores on Facebook and Twitter.
Two other apps of Dong's, Super Ball Juggling and Shuriken Block, are available on the two online stores. However, neither game offers the level of challenge and entertainment that Flappy Bird does, the US newswire reported.
Dong said that the games' mechanics are inspired by the Nintendo game Cheep Cheep from Super Mario Bros which he played as a child. — VNS