UPDATE 9/8: The Trump administration has quietly removed its controversial web-based game, Build the Wall, from Arcade.gov after the Tetris Company subtly threatened legal action for copyright infringement. Four other titles remain, Video Games Chronicle reports.
Original Story 9/5:
The Tetris Company has denounced the White House’s new browser game, Build the Wall, which takes obvious inspiration from the old-school classic.
Launched earlier this week, the game looks very similar to the iconic game. As bricks fall from the top of the screen, users must stack them to survive. The resulting wall is intended to protect a “southern border” from animated “zombies.”
“Build the wall. Deport. Fill a Trump Account,” the White House’s official X account said when announcing the game.
In an Instagram post, the Tetris Company said it believed “in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them.” The company confirmed that it was not involved in the creation of Build the Wall. It didn’t announce legal action but said it takes IP infringement “very seriously.”
Build the Wall is one of five low-resolution browser games the White House rolled out as part of a new Arcade section of its website. Other titles include Rio Run, which bears an outward resemblance to the classic arcade title Snake, while Flappy Bill looks a lot like the popular mobile game Flappy Bird. The intro trailer posted by the White House on social media also sees the Sega logo transform into MAGA.
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The Tetris Company has previously won damages from developers who made copycat games without a license. In 2012, a US district court judge sided with the Tetris Company after it claimed that an iPhone game called Mino had deliberately copied the game.
The Trump administration has also been hit with damages for infringing copyright before. For example, folk rock singer Neil Young reportedly won an undisclosed settlement over the usage of his music during Trump rallies, though this was never confirmed. Others, like the estate of soul singer Isaac Hayes, have won injunctions to stop their music from being played at Trump rallies.
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