black swan-vietnam flappy bird is a global hit, page-3

For a one man developer to hit No.1 on the entire app store is simply a STUNNING result!

I cannot over-emphasise how impressive this is.

It is a dead simple, arcade game similar in appearance to some of the screenshots I have seen of MBE's products. (let's not get excited - this is an extreme outlier result)

The game play is simple and very, very difficult.
There are some key components of the app which are very well designed.

The name is cute.
The character is cute and so inept at flying (huge head, tiny wings) that you feel sorry for it.

The sounds are catchy.

This isn't even a new type of game.
It's just a regenerated game with a new character and name.

As the developer himself has said, it's just luck. he put together some really simple but compelling components and it caught on.

Well done to him.


Here are some estimates of what it will be worth to him.

50m downloads - so far. It will double IMO when it hits the mainstream like angrybirds.

In app advertising = ~$1 per download over the lifetime of the app. That's the average. For an addictive game like this, it could be as high as $2-$3 dollars.

Flow on benefits - as a result, his three other games have also rocketed into the top 10.

To get 1 game in the top 10 is amazing. To get 3 is beyond anybody's wildest imagination.

Assume the other two also get 5m downloads each @ $1 = 10m.

So the guy could well make 60m from these three apps using a low estimate of revenue per download.


+ cross promoting the new apps he will no doubt bring into the market.

So this one HUGE hit could make the guy more than 100m over the next few years in advertising revenue alone.

Angry birds have gone onto to deals with movie studios, merchandise, theme parks etc and that franchise is estimated to be worth billions.

App stores have done more than anything else in the history of commerce to make millionaires in the shortest possible time.