10 Video Games That Broke The Rules
7. Copying Another Game - Flappy Bird
Plenty of mobile games have taken the world by storm, including Angry Birds, Candy Crush, and Pokemon GO!
But in 2013, it was all about Dong Nguyen's Flappy Bird. In this mobile title, the player must tap the onscreen bird to maintain his flight. If the bird collides with any of the pipes surrounding the stage, it's game over.
When summarised like that, Flappy Bird doesn't sound great... and it wasn't.
Nevertheless, Flappy Bird was the most downloaded free game on the App Store in January 2014, earning $50,000 daily from advertisements.
That's why it was bewildering when Nguyen removed it from online stores while it was still raking in money. According to creator, he had Flappy Bird pulled after learning young gamers were becoming dangerously addicted to it.
However, it's more likely Nguyen pulled the plug to avoid legal trouble, since his creation is a clone of Piou Piou vs Cactus, released the previous year. Side-by-side, it's obvious the pair have the same premise, design, and mechanics.
The only thing different about Flappy Bird is the titular character navigates around pipes instead of cacti. But since the pipes' aesthetic was also ripped off from Mario, it makes the potential plagiarism more apparent.