After Tetris criticism: White House takes video game offline

After criticism from the author

White House takes video game offline

Since last week, users have been able to find video games on the White House website that dramatize US politics. Now one of the games is no longer available.

An online game reminiscent of the classic Tetris is no longer available on a recently activated US government platform.

Last week, the White House published several games in the retro style of previous arcade machines on its own homepage called “Arcade”, including a game called “Build The Wall” (German: Bau die Mauer). In the game, the player should build a wall to protect the country’s border “from the advancing horde,” as the website said. The game, in which users stacked stones like Tetris, can no longer be found on the website.

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The company behind the classic video game Tetris made it clear immediately after the arcade site was published, that it was not involved in the development of “Build The Wall” and issued a clear warning to its developer.

“We take copyright infringements very seriously,” the company said on its social media channels on Friday. The company also distanced itself from the content in its post: “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and in bringing people together instead of dividing them.”

It was not known whether the company had taken legal action against the White House or whether the game had been taken offline as a precautionary measure. “Tetris has no comment,” said Miller PR, the agency representing the company, when asked by the US broadcaster CNN on Wednesday (local time).

The other games in roughly pixelated retro design on the arcade side also dramatize central issues of the US government. A game called “Rio Run” also tackles the harsh migration policy of the government under President Donald Trump in which the user acts as a border officer collecting migrants from the playing field. “Rio Run,” which functions somewhat like the mobile game Snake, is still available online.