The Tetris Company
| |
| The Tetris Company | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 10, 1983 (Bullet-Proof Software) 1996 (Blue Planet Software and Tetris Co.) |
| Headquarters | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States |
| Key people | Alexey Pajitnov, founder Henk Rogers, founder |
| Industry | Video games |
| Products | Video games |
| Number of people | Undisclosed |
| Website | http://www.tetris.com/ |
The Tetris Company, Inc. is a video game licensor.
Bullet-Proof Software
Henk Rogers formed Bullet-Proof Software August 10, 1983.
It was based in Yokohama, Japan.
The Tetris Company
Tetris rights dispute
In 1988, Spectrum Holobyte sold its Tetris rights for release in Japan to Henk Rogers through his company, Bullet-Proof Software. Mirrorsoft sold its Tetris rights for release in North America to Atari Games. Atari Games then sold its video game console rights to Henk Rogers.
Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi was an acquaintance of Henk Rogers, so the latter sought to acquire the handheld rights to Tetris. He tried to negotiate with Atari Games and Robert Stein, who had first acquired the Tetris license. However, after being told by Stein that he'd have to consult Elorg first, and trying and failing to negotiate with Stein several times, Henk Rogers traveled to the Soviet Union to negotiate directly with Elorg.
At the meeting, Elorg director Nikolai Belikov was surprised upon seeing a Bullet-Proof Software cartridge of Tetris for the Famicom, as he had thought that only the rights to home computer versions had been signed. Belikov originally claimed Bullet-Proof Software had released the game without a contract, but Rogers explained that he had acquired the rights from Atari Games, who had acquired the rights from Robert Stein.
After learning of the complex licensing agreements, Belikov sought to regain the rights and obtain more financially lucrative contracts. During this period, Rogers befriended Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov, and Pajitnov supported Rogers during the contract negotiations. Belikov proposed that Stein's console and handheld licenses would be canceled and Nintendo would be granted the rights to Tetris for both consoles and handheld systems. Rogers flew to the United States so that he could get Nintendo of America to sign the contracts. Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa and its lawyer Howard Lincoln signed the contracts, as did Belikov, Rogers, and Stein. The latter hadn't read the contract fully and hadn't noticed the section that defined a computer as a machine with a monitor and a keyboard.
Company formation
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. Elorg became a private company, still managed by Nikolai Belikov, while Henk Rogers helped Alexey Pajitnov and his family immigrate to the United States.
When the Tetris rights expired in 1995, Elorg purchased half of the rights to the game, while Pajitnov and Rogers purchased the other half. Henk Rogers founded Blue Planet Software in Honolulu, Hawaii, as the successor of Bullet-Proof Software and the exclusive agent for the Tetris brand.
In 1996, The Tetris Company was formed by Rogers and Pajitnov to hold their rights to Tetris and to take the role of the exclusive licensor of the brand. In 2005, Elorg sold the other half of the Tetris rights to The Tetris Company.
Blue Planet Software
In 1996, Henk Rogers formed Blue Planet Software Inc. in Honolulu, Hawaii.
On March 31, 2001, Bullet-Proof Software closed, and the rights to the name and software were transferred to Blue Planet Software.
In October 2020, Blue Planet Software was absorbed into The Tetris Company.