Addictive 'Flappy Bird' Game Expected To Return This Summer

(CBS SF) - A wildly-popular smartphone-based game that mysteriously shut down earlier this year will soon return with multi-player functionality, according to the game's creator.

Dong Nguyen, the brains behind Vietnamese game developer DotGears Studios, told CNBC on Wednesday that the aggravating app will be making a return as soon as August. The updated version will allow players to compete with others in real time.

The original game was made available in 2013 but became an international sensation and top download earlier this year.

The game found success due to its simplicity and maddening difficulty.

As the popularity grew, Nguyen became a minor celebrity. Shortly before the shutdown, the 29-year-old creator tweeted from Hanoi that the Internet sensation caused by the game "ruins my simple life," and that he had grown to hate his creation.

"I will take Flappy Bird down. I cannot take this anymore," he wrote. He later followed through on that threat.

The game was downloaded more than 50 million times from Apple's App Store alone before the shutdown. During an interview with The Verge website, Nguyen said the app was making $50,000 a day in advertising revenue.

Rumors swirled about ulterior motives for the shutdown, but nothing was ever proven.