The news of Flappy Bird's, demise has hit some fans pretty hard. The game was overnight success, much to the surprise of its designer. One of the hardest game apps on the market, the challenging nature of the game drove some users to contact the game's maker, Dong Nguyen, directly on twitter complaining of addiction. Apparently the pressure of creating a wildly popular and addictive game caused Nguyen to crack (pun intended) and take the game off the market.
Flappy Bird was reportedly earning over $50,000 a day in advertising revenue. Earning $50,000 a day in America would make one quite wealthy - just imagine what that kind of wealth equates to in Vietnam where the average annual family income is about $1800.
I can't decide what to think about his decision. Was it brave, wise or naive?
I do admire the man for knowing when he was in over his head. You have to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Plowing onward blindly can cause far more harm than good and it seems certain that Nguyen felt out of control of his product.
If one isn't mentally prepared for success, its highly probable you could crash and burn pretty hard. With young adults claiming "affluenza" as a legitimate defense in court, one has to admire him for shying away from perhaps having too much money for one's own good.
While we don't yet know what made up his final decision to turn down such financial success, it does seem that he suffered mostly from a major moral dilemma regarding his customers' self-reported addiction to the game.
Which also makes me wonder as an aspiring inventor: Should one take responsibility for how your customers use your product? There are loads of companies that make household products that are used by drug addicts. Those companies continue on regardless of these known alternate, illicit uses. So, if you invented a game that "ruins" someone's life because they play it to their own detriment, is it your place as the maker to remove the game from the market entirely? World of Warcraft and Everquest makers certainly don't think so!
As an American Entrepreneur, constantly chasing financial freedom and success in business, I don't understand his decision to cease sales of his most profitable product. But, I do admire his restraint and arguably over-the-top empathy.
Sometimes Grit does Quit?
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