The end?

Unless you've been living down an especially deep well for the past week or so, you'll have heard of the name Flappy Bird. The smartphone title has attracted an astonishing amount of interest both from within and outside the games industry, and its creator Dong Nguyen apparently made $50,000 USD a day thanks to the free title's in-game adverts.

Nguyen has now removed the game from both the Apple App Store and Google Play market, citing issues with his new-found fame and the level of publicity — both good and bad — his title has attracted.

Those annoyed by Flappy Bird's withdrawal may be inclined to blame Nintendo, as there were rumours that the Japanese firm was preparing some kind of legal action due to the similarity of the green pipes featured in the game to those in the Super Mario Bros. series of games.

However, Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa has moved to discount such claims, telling the Wall Street Journal:

While we usually do not comment on the rumors and speculations, we have already denied the speculation.

So there you have it; whatever Nguyen's reasons are for taking the game down — and there could be many — Nintendo's annoyance isn't one of them.