Final week introduced the surprising information that Flappy Fowl, the 2014 viral hit, is making a comeback. However the recreation’s creator Dong Nguyen was notably absent from the announcement, and the extra you look into the obvious reboot the murkier it will get. Trademark shenanigans, a brand new “basis” behind the relaunch, and the unmistakeable whiff of crypto: oh my.
Now Nguyen has made his first public assertion in seven years, confirming he has no involvement with this relaunch of Flappy Fowl, and does not imagine he is bought any rights.
“No, I’ve no associated [sic] with their recreation,” writes Nguyen on social media. “I didn’t promote something. I additionally do not help crypto.”
Crucial context for that is that Nguyen’s response to Flappy Fowl’s overwhelming success again in 2014 was a stunning one. On the peak of the sport’s recognition, Nguyen withdrew it from sale, saying that it was “a hit of mine. But it surely additionally ruins my easy life. So now I hate it.”
As detailed in our authentic report, Flappy Fowl subsequently turned the topic of a behind-the-scenes trademark dispute in the USA between Nguyen and a Delaware-based firm known as Gametech. The long-and-short of that is that Nguyen does not seem to have acted to defend the trademark, and after a few years it was ultimately awarded to Gametech.
From right here we get to the Flappy Fowl Basis, “a brand new group of passionate followers dedicated to sharing the sport with the world” who declare to have “spearheaded the acquisition of the official trademark.” That is the outfit behind the relaunch of Flappy Fowl. The important thing determine behind each Gametech and the Flappy Fowl Basis is one Michael Roberts, a developer who appears to have a giant curiosity in NFTs and crypto and describes themselves because the “chief artistic” behind the sport’s return.
The Flappy Fowl Basis is attempting to make it sound like that is one thing heroic: “The last decade-long mission concerned buying authorized rights and even working with my predecessor to uncage me and rehatch the official Flappy Fowl recreation!” The complicated reference to “my predecessor” pertains to a recreation known as Piou Piou with related mechanics that predated Flappy Fowl, whose creator has been roped-in to this venture to lend a kind of veneer of historic legitimacy.
Amusingly sufficient, the reboot’s official social media account has now turn out to be a goal for the group notes crowd, with each considered one of its bulletins swiftly plastered with caveats concerning the possession and trademark shenanigans.
There are many questions over this relaunch, to say the least, and I am unsure many people are going to love the solutions. I’ve put a spread of them to the Flappy Fowl Basis, in addition to contacting Nguyen’s representatives, and can replace with any response.
