Flappy Bird, the free online game that is considered the most popular app this year so far, has been removed from the online stores by its Vietnamese developer after a tweet announcement, citing that its popularity "ruins my simple life".

Indie game maker Don Nguyen announced further that the removal of the game was not due to any legal issues. He also claimed that he is not planning to sell the number 1 game, but hinted on doing a sequel.

Flappy Bird raked up to 50 million downloads that made the creator earned as much $50,000 daily just from advertising revenue.

Often compared to classic Nintendo game, the charm of the game is its simple graphics and difficulty which enthralled the interest of the gamers around the world. To gain high score, players should let the bird character "flap" its way through different obstacles. Nguyen's game slowly became a surprise hit since its release last May through social media promotion and Youtube reviews.

Considered by players as an "addictive game you love to hate", a big number of people did not take the removal of the game sitting down as they turned to Twitter and Facebook petitioning its return. Hashtag #RIPFlappyBird and numerous Save Flappy Birds accounts started flooding the said sites. There were even offers of selling their smart phones that comes with the downloaded game.

Reviews of the game range from abusive rants stirred by the frustration of not scoring higher than 10 to light hearted quips of calling Nguyen an evil genius for creating a devilish game. But no one is more relieved of its removal than the Veitnamese game maker himself.

In a series of tweets before the game's takedown, Don Nguyen expressed how he felt about Flappy Bird's surging popularity: "I can call 'Flappy Bird' is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it."