Tetris Company Condemns White House Arcade Games Featuring Border Wall
8 sources across 7 countries
Who reported this
- Der Spiegel
- Frankfurter Allgemeine
- La Tercera
- France 24
- South China Morning Post
- The Japan Times
- The Guardian
- Bloomberg
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
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The Tetris Company has publicly distanced itself from a collection of arcade style video games released on the official White House website on Thursday. The company stated that it did not authorize or license its intellectual property for a game titled Build the Wall, which mimics Tetris mechanics to have users construct a border barrier to protect against a coming horde. The Tetris Company added that it takes copyright infringement very seriously and is currently reviewing the matter.
The White House Arcade features five games that promote the political agenda of President Donald Trump. These include Rio Run, a Snake style game where users control a digital version of border official Tom Homan to capture migrants for deportation, and Trump Savings Tycoon, where players collect money for child savings accounts. Other games include Flappy Bill, featuring an eagle carrying a bill in Washington, and Supply Line, which involves rejecting food items that do not meet the Make America Healthy Again standards. Promotional materials for the arcade include parodies of classic consoles and the replacement of the Sega logo with the MAGA slogan.
The White House told AFP that the administration is focused on innovation and aims to tell the story of the president's successes in a way that resonates with citizens. However, human rights organizations have sharply criticized the initiative. The games also draw imagery from other developers, including Sega and Microsoft owned Xbox, though those companies have not provided official responses.
Outlets with different political leanings framed the event in contrasting ways. Center left sources described the games as fascist propaganda and a dehumanizing appropriation of play. Center right sources focused on the specific details of the administration's policy goals and the resulting copyright disputes. Center sources generally characterized the move as a controversial communication strategy that gamifies migration policy.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Framed the games as dehumanizing fascist propaganda and an appropriation of gamer culture.
- Centre
- Framed the event as a controversial communication strategy and a gamification of migration policy.
- Centre-right
- Focused on the specific policy goals promoted by the games and the legal aspects of the copyright dispute.
Sources
- Centre Bloomberg: Tetris Distances Itself From White House’s Wall-Building Game
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: "Tetris": Game company distances itself from video game on White House website
- Centre France 24: Anti-immigration video games: what is the White House playing at?
- Centre France 24: Maga Tetris, Snake: when Trump turns the hunt for migrants into a video game
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: USA under Trump: Tetris distances itself from video game on White House website
- Centre-right La Tercera: White House enables games on Trump's agenda on its website, including the wall and the deportation of migrants
- Centre-right South China Morning Post: Tetris says it didn’t give White House permission for ‘Build the Wall’ game
- Centre-left The Guardian: The Trump White House’s fetish for gamer culture has moved up a level with new arcade
- Centre The Japan Times: Tetris distances itself from controversial White House ‘arcade’ games
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.