Swing Copters: The new game by Flappy Bird’s creator comes out on Thursday
Deep breath: Dong Nguyen, the man behind Flappy Bird, says he is in the process of creating a new game.
This version is called Swing Copters, and it will be available to download on Thursday.
The previews released by Nguyen feel eerily familiar: whereas Flappy Bird players touched the screen to keep their feathered friend aloft, on Swing Copters players, er, tap the screen to keep a little man aloft – but this time, with the added complication of left and right movement.
Here it is:
Nguyen has form when it comes to infuriatingly difficult mobile phone games. Flappy Bird became the most downloaded game on Apple's App Store in January this year, with more than 50m downloads, before Nguyen had an existential crisis and removed it. At the time, he said it was because he "cannot take this anymore".
I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
But he assured fans he was still making games, hinting in May that he was creating a new one "so people can forget about Flappy Bird for a while", and today gaming blog Toucharcade reported the game will be released on Thursday.
Will Swing Copter be a success? Gaming companies notoriously suffer from "difficult second album syndrome": just ask Zynga, which reported a 34 per cent fall in revenue earlier this month as it failed to emulate Farmville's success, and King, whose shares crashed 21 per cent last week after investors voiced fears it might not be able to follow up Candy Crush.
While it is unlikely Nguyen will rake in the $50,000 a day he was reported to be making during Flappy Bird's peak, you never know…