Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen has followed through with his threat to pull his successful game from app stores and as of Sunday (9th Feb.) evening the game was no longer available on both Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play store. Though it's still not entirely clear what caused the Vietnam-based developer to want out in such a dramatic way, Nguyen told his Twitter followers that the success of the app had ruined his "simple life."

"I can call 'Flappy Bird' is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it," Dong tweeted before he made the major announcement that the app would stop being available to buy. "I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore."

Some had speculated that legal issues had arisen due to Flappy Bird's similarity to Nintendo's original Super Mario Bros. but both Nintendo and Nguyen have denied the rumour. "While we usually do not comment on the rumors and speculations, we have already denied the speculation," Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa to the Wall Street Journal whilst the developer tweeted "It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore."

Nguyen's original announcements were met with scepticism as some predicted that the news was generated to provoke a media storm and hurried app-buying but when Flappy Bird really did disappear, fans reacted with outrage and confusion. Dong has reiterated on Twitter "overrating the success" of his games and that he's not in the game for the fortune or fame, tweeting "please give me peace."

The decision has caused much confusion after Nguyen himseld admitted that he was earning $50,000 a day in ad revenue. Nguyen has also dropped the bombshell that he won't be selling his addictive game, which is renowned for provoking bouts of fury within particularly addicted users. It is believed that it was such irate abuse that unsettled Dong and caused him to pull the plug.

Now that copies of the game - where the user flies a bird through a series of pipe obstacles - are in short supply, chancers have taken to auction website eBay to hawk phones with Flappy Bird installed; one of which is listed for $90,000 with over 60 bids, prompting a storm of copycat sellers.

Like the tale of Frankenstein's monster, Nguyen seemingly grew to hate the app that in a few short weeks brought him undreamt-of wealth for most developers. He has reassured his followers that he's still developing app games but it remains to be seen whether he'll ever strike the Flappy Bird gold again.