Are independent developers afraid of success?

I ask this question in light of the drama that has occurred with the creator of Flappy Birds. I get the feeling that he couldn't take the pressure that came with the tremendous success of his new game. Some feel that maybe Nintendo were to be blamed for taking it down, but Nintendo has denied anything to do with taking down the game. So it makes me wonder; are they afraid of success once it is attained or is it just me altogether?

Um no they aren't afraid of success, I'd imagine most actually want success. The Flappy Bird 'creator' wasn't afraid of success, he was afraid of being sued buy any of the guys he ripped off to make his clone. He probably thought that while cloning a game was a good idea at the time, it has essentially ruined his career. Oh yeah and the fairly well backed up accusations that he was manipulating traffic data probably aren't going to help his reputation any.

So no, I don't think Indie developers are afraid of success, con artists on the other hand are very, very afraid of being too successful

I think culture has a part to play in it - he claims to have received death threats ect.. would we have seen this in the west?

I don't think independent devs are scared of success, intact I think it's human nature to crave success in anything we do. However, when starting off with a small project as he did and see it take off at the speed it has, I think its vital to have the right support around you - other people with experience in dealing with press, and nurturing the 'baby' as it were even further, to capitalise on the success and make something of it - maybe to create a catapult for yourself into the industry, hoping to be headhunted by a larger indie dev or maybe a more established studio.

It's a shame it's ended this way, but I think anybody posting an app on any kind of store should be prepared for any kind of eventualitity - even the unbelievable!

They are afraid of losing their independence, just look at What happend to Radical Entertainment Studios. They went from Prototype to Map Packs.

Some studios don't even make Games or DLC, the head studio just makes them do sever maintainence and outsources them Texture and Lighting work. Boring !

I don't think they're afraid of success.

There's a lot that goes on in the industry, at all levels, so I would think there's obviously more to this.

The creator of Flappy Bird took his game down because of all the abuse he received in the wake of the game's sudden success. There's only so many death threats one can get before they decide enough's enough and pull the plug. It has nothing to do with being afraid of success, but merely not wanting to deal with people being utter scum.

How many of those death threats came from citizens of the west?

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If independent developers are afraid to hit it big, then they shouldn't release their work. Hate speech and 'cyber' bullying comes part and parcel with everything in the entertainment segment. If you don't know what people are like in this day and age, then that's on you. It's a matter of handling said celebrity that makes or breaks someone. I'm not condoning the actions of the imbeciles on the net et al., I just don't believe it's a fear of success. In this instance I believe the threats gave him an easy out. It's easier to garner sympathy when you make people believe it's bullying and not the possibility of severe legal ramifications.

I think by your estimate. Being afraid of lawsuits kinda means some fear of commerical success.

In today's marketplace its so easy to run up against legal challenges for what you put out on there. The patent and sample trolls are in the water like piranhas, and from what I hear software patents are written in retarded-ly broad language to get the most protection.

Its gotten to the point that making a popular product is almost a sin depending on your pedigree. whether it mirrors another's design, or only shares common genre features that you or I wouldn't even consider patent-able (in an ideal functioning world) of course

Its like the Notorious B.I.G. said. Mo' money, mo' problems.

@platinumking320: Not really, I didn't mean actual talented developers have some sort of ever present fear of litigation. I specifically meant the shameless, no talent, hack that cloned piou piou vs. cactus to make Flappy Bird in the beginning. Most developers have nothing to worry about because their games aren't complete rip offs. The guy that made Flappy Bird should face severe legal challenges, he completely stole his game and made a load of cash from it!

Same with the rest of the scumbags that then cloned Flappy Bird the second it became popular.

@barrybarryk: Sure I know what you mean. Creators need room to make a profit off their original works without too much clone-meddling. I just think there is a slippery slope in our arguing for originality that hurts the future of works which are more trans formative than the shameless clones out there. Thats how entertainment genres evolve, and niches are created.

One breakthrough occurs with a lot of derivative mechanics combined in new ways. Then theres a dull cloning period, and the best stuff looks at all the rip-offs when it becomes a dead trend and makes fundamental changes that make a brand new experience.

While the mobile market is nasty, full of freemium scams. I say there are still diamonds in the rough. I laughed my ass off when I first saw 'Gamelofts' library. My first experience with then was the halo rip-off NOVA, and it was so funny to scroll through the rest of their titles. But I shrugged it off, knowing they didn't have much competition in the mobile space and if they were one of the few around providing 3D action on a touchscreen...then oh well.

If microsoft or activision felt like suing them down the line, I would roll my eyes. They had years to get in front of games like that, and want to shutdown the party only when people pay attention. Couldn't be more cynical y'know?

So I feel theres a balance between promoting unique works and giving them room to make as much profit as they can, and enduring a certain amount of rip-offs to wade into the ecosystem, and inspire other would bes before the next ground breaking software is conceived and released. Complete creativity or orginality eventually becomes a myth when you think about it.

I didn't know about the death threats. That's one good reason to take down your product, I suppose.

This is one individual person, not the Borg Indie collective. Yes, I know.