The strange mobile sensation that was "Flappy Birds" has certainly caused a ruckus lately. In fact, even though it was shut down by the developer himself, it is still continuing to make headlines. Apparently, a huge swath of developers have decided to jump on the Flappy Birds phenomenon to try and capitalize on it's absence.
Quite a large number of clones were quickly spammed across the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Copy cat products were swarming out of the woodwork like roaches and eventually both Apple and Google decided enough was enough. Both companies have started shutting down these Flappy Birds pretenders. Here's a quote with more of the details,
Developer Ken Carpenter of Mind Juice Media said on Twitter that his app was rejected by Apple, with the company saying that it “found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app,” even though the original Flappy Bird game is not available for download from Flappy Bird.
Carpenter’s app was also rejected from the Google Play Store as well without any warning. “There was no ‘Fair Warning’ email, which Google claims to send before taking such actions. I checked and rechecked my spam folder to be sure. They just arbitrarily removed the app with no warning,” Carpenter said. ”The message they sent me simply referenced the ‘spam’ provision of the Google Play terms and did not specifically call out what my transgression was.” Even with a changed name, the app was not allowed inside the Google Play Sore.
Other developers have also chimed in, revealing that their own Flappy Bird clones were rejected. Meanwhile, Flappy Bird clones that have been approved in the previous week, quickly overtaking the App Store, are still available for download.
It's crazy just how much of a "craze" this Flappy Birds fiasco has become. To be honest, your friendly neighborhood editors and admins here at HQ have tried the original Flappy Birds, and we just can't comprehend the madness surrounding this game. We found it to be a solid, yet familiar and unremarkable title. Share your opinion on this strange fad?
Source: BGR