Despite having created Tetris, one of the most popular and played video games of all time, its creator, Aleksey Pajitnov, had to wait a decade to obtain financial benefits from his invention.
The video game industry is full of fascinating and unpleasant stories, such as the forgotten first PC game in history, the youngest developer, Simar Khurana, or the first lost Nintendo commercial.
But one of the most notable situations is that of the Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnovwho created Tetris, one of the most popular games of all time, but had to wait ten years to make a profit on his own creation. Can you imagine creating a game that makes millions and not seeing a single cent?
Tetris: A game that changed the history of video games and Aleksey Pajitnov
Aleksey Pajitnov worked as a software engineer at the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet UnionIn 1984, inspired by the board game Pentominodeveloped Tetris as a hobby to test the power of the computers that had come into his workplace.
The first versions of the game were very rudimentary, with geometric figures made up of square brackets, but even so, the game quickly became addictive, and Pajitnov, together with the young student Vadim Gerasimovimproved Tetris by adding colors, a scoring system, and sound.
Although they initially intended to distribute it for free, the Soviet Union appropriated the license due to its popularity, expanding it globally without its creator receiving any financial benefits.
The video game grew exponentially, especially when it was sold to Mirrorsoft and later distributed by Nintendo for the Game Boy in 1989, establishing itself as a worldwide phenomenon. However, Pajitnov did not see a cent of the profits generated by his game.
How could this happen? It should be noted that In the days of the Soviet Union, intellectual property rights belonged to the state, not individuals. Therefore, although Aleksey was the creator of the game, he had no right to receive royalties for his invention.
However, after the fall of the Soviet regime in 1996, Pajitnov joined the psychologist Vladimir Pojilko and the businessman Henk Rogers for founding Tetris Company in the United States, but not before going through a long legal fight. This association finally allowed him to receive the economic benefits of Tetris, but for this, ten long years had to pass.
Since then, Tetris has raised more than $20 billion worldwide and has evolved with new versions for modern consoles and mobile devices. If you want to know more about this story and everything behind it, you can watch the film, which is available on Apple TV+.
Known how we work in Computerhoy.
Tags: Curiosities
Add Comment