It came, it flapped, it conquered. And now, just days after Flappy Bird’s creator inexplicably removed the game from app stores for good, the free program has resurfaced on eBay to the tune of $99,900.
EBay seller pindrus is selling his 16-gigabyte iPhone 5s with the game pre-installed -- and bidders are flocking to the item in droves. While the auction began yesterday at $650, 22 bidders have thus far made a total of 74 bids for the used phone with roughly six days left until the item is sold.
Though almost $100,000 may sound steep for Flappy Bird -- notorious for its crude design, simplistic plot and punishing difficulty -- many other eBay sellers are looking to cash in on a smaller scale. A search for the game on eBay yields hundreds of used phones tagged at a staggering variety of price points.
Related: Flappy Bird Reportedly Flapping Away For Good
While eBay has yet to confirm the veracity of the bids, none of the sales appear to have ended, casting a shadow of doubt over the activity.
Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen created Flappy Bird in May, though it only recently rocketed to widespread popularity and astronomical revenues for Nguyen of a reported $50,000 per day.
He tweeted this weekend that he would be removing the game amidst speculation that its ratings and popularity had been boosted through fake accounts or that the sudden and intense fame was simply too much for Nguyen to bear.
It appears other programmers are eager to pounce on the game's success. A search for "Flappy Bird" on freelancer hiring site Elance reveals dozens of job postings asking programmers to design a copycat iOS game.
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