I'm sure he was inundated with people wanting to buy it, license it, claim the made it, asking for tips, etc. I'd imagine this kind of thing basically ruins your email address.
Then when he said he didn't like the attention, more hate came. Then when he said he was pulling it, death threats came.
Reminds me of people who win the lottery. All their friends just want something, charities start bugging them, they can't be left alone.
I feel sorry for him too, but it seems like it should have been obvious that publicly pulling the game was not the way to make things better. It sucks, but the only way to make it go away is to just ignore it all for a while. The internet will find its new obsession in short order, and Flappy Bird's 15 minutes of fame will be over. Anything he does to try to avoid attention will just make it go on longer.
Then when he said he didn't like the attention, more hate came. Then when he said he was pulling it, death threats came.
Reminds me of people who win the lottery. All their friends just want something, charities start bugging them, they can't be left alone.
I feel sorry for him.