It appears that the Flappy Bird ‘remake’ has nothing to do with its original creator. Dong Nguyen, who created Flappy Bird, has said that he has no connection to the team that’s working on the new title. Nguyen took to X (formerly Twitter) to say, “No, I have no related with their game. I did not sell anything. I also don’t support crypto.”
Last week, the game was revealed by a group of developers calling itself The Flappy Bird Foundation. In a note to the press, the organization had claimed that it had acquired the trademark from a company named GameTech Holdings LLC. Nguyen’s name wasn’t mentioned anywhere on the new Flappy Bird‘s website or in its promotional materials, leading some to question how GameTech got its hands on the IP in the first place.
Over at X, a user by the name of Samperson discovered more information about the how this all went down. According to their post, Nguyen didn’t renew the trademark for Flappy Bird, leading the US Patent and Trademark Office to consider it abandoned and letting GameTech snag it for free.
Nguyen’s jab at crypto might seem ill-placed, given that the new Flappy Bird team has not yet publicly discussed any crypto integration. However, an X user named dusk dug into the accounts that the new Flappy Bird account follows, which includes many cryptocurrency-affiliated accounts. Cybersecurity researcher Varun Biniwale also discovered hidden cryptocurrency-related pages on the Flappy Bird website. The Verge found that one of the cryptocurrency pages from the game’s website has been archived here.
These are all worrying signs for people who just want to play the game they remember. At the moment, the game hasn’t released and it is unclear how the developers plan to monetize it. Until the game releases and the developers are proven to be trustworthy, be wary.
