Flappy bird, Pewdiepie & Internet

Lately I watched a video called 'Game Theory: Flappy Bird, PewDiePie, and Pasta Sauce'. It's about a trend of the games has being brought by the network star (specifically on YouTube). Flappy Bird did not launch to popularity. It was released on May 23rd, 2013 and hung around the low 1,000s of download rankings for its first week before dropping off the charts. It received some moderate but inconsequential boosts around the holidays before beginning a dramatic climb in early January. As of January 17th, 2014—eight months after its release and four months after its last update—Flappy Bird was nestled in at #1. Pewdiepie, a popular YouTube gamer has set this trend. It's explained about the theory of "Diffussion of Innovations", on how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. At this case, it is more like Internet culture. There are 5 stages of this theory: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards. Set Pewdiepie as example, he is the Early Adopter who brought the 'heat' of Flappy Bird by his video "FLAPPY BIRD- DON'T PLAY THIS GAME" (start from 4:05)

 

As the video "Game Theory: Flappy Bird, PewDiePie, and Pasta Sauce" mentioned about the Early Majority of other YouTube gamers also follow the trend and keep the 'heat' of Flappy Bird. It's like a viral. Other people will play the game which influence by their friends who watch the videos. Later that it will influence friends by friends and no longer mention the names of the YouTube gamers. These 2 stages called Late Majority and Laggards. As this rate we can see how Internet influenced the trend of a game as Flappy Bird didn't become popular at the first place.