Flappy Bird maker's 'Swing Copters' coming on August 21, but sadly it's a rip-off

While there is no show from the Flappy Bird game that was expected to return to app stores this month , Dong Nguyen’s new game that was teased earlier in May is all set to launch this week.  TouchArcade got an exclusive preview of his new game called ‘Swing Copters’ that is expected to hit stores on August 21 and looks as addictive as Flappy Bird. It will be available to download for free, but a one-time  $0.99 in app purchase could help you get rid of the ads.  

At the look at it, the game appears almost similar to Flappy Bird - simple looking yet a Herculean task. The game shows a little human-shaped figurine that has to fly upwards and pass as many gates as possible. Sounds familiar? Yes, the goal is quite similar to what we’ve seen in Nguyen’s sensational hit game that was abruptly pulled off app stores for being too addictive. According to TouchArcade , _S_wing Copters  "seems even  more brutally difficult." Though the game brings a similar vibe as Flappy Bird, it doesn’t appear to be novel. There are hordes of similar games out there.

For instance, Ship Up offers more or less similar gameplay (with the obvious influence of Flappy Bird), where you are controlling an alien space ship in an identical fashion as in Swing Copters as it travels up. We wouldn’t be surprised if the Swing Copters ends up being as popular as Nguyen’s original game, but it is baffling that he wants to carry forward his legacy after Flappy Bird with a sort of rip-off. It’s especially ironic considering the legion of Flappy Bird clones his original game spawned. So in a way, Swing Copters is a rip-off of a Flappy Bird spin-off. Doesn’t get more meta than that.

Flappy Bird  was taken down by Nguyen  after he though people were getting  too addicted to it . Most were baffled by Nguyen’s choice to abandon a project that was at one time fetching him  $50,000 a day through ads , and that was before it hit it reached its peak popularity. Some left  him death threats  and phones with Flappy installed were being sold for close to $100,000. However, he soon sparked off new speculation that the game will be back on mobile devices.

While Flappy fans are still eagerly awaiting news of its comeback, there are a horde of apps that  can fill the void in the meantime . However,  not all are safe to use , and some clones have been  booted out by Apple and Google .