The White House has removed Build the Wall, a falling-block game that closely followed the Tetris format, from its Arcade.gov browser-game site, Dexerto and Polygon reported. The removal came days after The Tetris Company publicly distanced itself from the game and said it takes copyright infringement seriously.
The White House launched Arcade.gov in early September with five browser games, each modeled on an existing title. In Build the Wall, players stacked falling blocks to defend the southern border, and the game ended if the blocks reached the top of the screen. Polygon reported that the game's description read "Protect the border from the coming horde," and that it did not work properly, because completing a horizontal line did not clear blocks. Polygon described the arcade's games as ranging from juvenile to racist.
The Tetris Company responds
After the White House promoted the arcade on its official X account, The Tetris Company posted on social media that it believes "in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them." It added that it "was not involved in the creation of Build the Wall" and that it takes copyright infringement "very seriously." According to Dexerto, a spokesperson told The Verge that the company was "reviewing the matter."
As of the September 8 reports, it was unclear whether The Tetris Company had contacted the White House directly or sent a formal cease-and-desist letter, and neither side had confirmed that the copyright warning was the reason for the removal. Polygon noted that The Tetris Company won a copyright infringement case against Xio Interactive in 2012 over its 2009 mobile game Mino.
The other four Arcade.gov titles remained playable, Dexerto reported: Flappy Bill, which resembles Flappy Bird; Supply Line, inspired by Tapper; Rio Run, which plays like Snake; and Trump Savings Tycoon, in which players collect money for Trump Accounts.
Polygon reported that the White House's X account used Sega's logo and Sonic the Hedgehog's Green Hill Zone theme to promote Arcade.gov, and that The Pokémon Company had previously told the New York Times it did not grant the administration permission to use its IP. Dexerto noted that Japan previously urged officials to stop using Nintendo and Pokémon characters in political posts, and that Yu-Gi-Oh denied involvement after clips from the anime appeared in official White House videos.