Even Though He Killed It, The Guy Behind Flappy Bird Is Still Making Plenty Of Money On The Game

Over the weekend, Flappy Bird developer said he'd had enough of the pressure that comes with success, and he pulled his wildly popular game from the App Store.

To most people, this seems like a fairly baffling decision. Why yank your game when it's number one in the charts and you're raking in $50,000 per day?

Dong Nguyen, the man behind the game, said it was all too overwhelming and he wanted out. And that's probably partially accurate.

But, there's another reason his decision isn't as stunning as it might seem. He's still going to get paid from Flappy Bird, even if it's not in the App Store.

All the people that still have Flappy Bird on their phones are getting ads served. Those ad revenues are still going to Nguyen. So, while he's limited his future earnings potential, he hasn't cut off his supply of cash altogether. He's still raking in money.

In fact, this stunt of pulling the app may have even increased his revenue as he drummed up new press and new users for himself over the weekend.

The truth of the matter is that Flappy Bird was eventually going to run out of steam on its own. All games run their course. Nguyen just sped up the process.

But, he's no dummy. He will still collect plenty of big checks from Flappy Bird for weeks to come. As long as the millions of people that downloaded the game keep playing, ads will keep getting displayed, and he'll still make money.