It looks like video game companies actually can get the Trump administration to budge. Shortly after the White House posted a new “Arcade” section on its official website featuring xenophobic web browser games, the administration just removed a Tetris clone from its selection of slop.
On Sept. 4, the White House launched five games on Arcade.gov that ranged from juvenile to outright racist. One of them, Build the Wall, played almost identically to Tetris, and had the following description: “Protect the border from the coming horde.” Beyond the plagiarism and nativist rhetoric, the game also didn’t work properly, as filling a horizontal line didn’t clear blocks.
Shortly after the administration released the game and promoted it on the official White House X account, The Tetris Company took a stand against the hateful rhetoric and copyright infringement. In an Instagram post, the official Tetris account wrote the following: “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them. To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community.” The account added in a comment, “P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of Build the Wall. P.P.S. We take copyright infringement very seriously.”
In 2012, the Tetris Company won a copyright infrigement case against Xio Interactive for its 2009 mobile game Mino. While the Tetris Company hasn’t confirmed whether it reached out to the Trump administration directly, it seems the White House got the message.
While you may assume that a rights holders would object to having its video games used to peddle divisive, xenophobic rhetoric, most companies have taken a cowardly stance on the matter. The White House’s X account is full of apparent copyright infringement, including an infamous post that combines the Pokémon main theme “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” with footage of ICE raids. In promoting Arcade.gov the White House’s X account steals Sega’s logo and Sonic the Hedgehog’s Green Hill Zone theme, as well as the iconic console loading screens from the GameCube, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2.
Despite the administration’s repeated behavior, infamously litigious game companies like Nintendo have done very little in response, possibly out of fear of government reprisals in the form of tariffs. While the Pokémon Company previously gave a statement to the New York Times clarifying it did not grant permission to the Trump administration to use its IP, it took a fence sitting position by saying it was “not affiliated with any political viewpoint or agenda.”
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