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By Marni Rose McFall
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President Donald Trump’s White House has removed a Tetris-inspired online arcade game, following a copyright threat from The Tetris Company.
The White House launched a new online arcade last week that featured games modelled on classic formats and tied to the Trump agenda, including Supply Line, where players sort school lunches to make them healthy, and Rio Run, where players simulate border patrol.
Another game launched was Build the Wall, which resembled the iconic block-stacking game.
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As of Wednesday morning, that game is no longer visible on The White House’s Arcade section.
Newsweek has contacted the White House via email for comment and the Tetris Company via an online contact form outside of standard business hours.
It comes after The Tetris Company told Newsweek on Monday: "The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall’ and did not authorize or license the Tetris brand or intellectual property for the game.”
“For more than 40 years, Tetris has brought people together across generations and cultures through play and joy. The objective of the game has always been to stack with purpose to clear as many lines as possible. We are currently reviewing the matter," the statement continued.
Following the launch of the games, The Tetris Company shared a post on Instagram confirming its position and issuing a warning.
"P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall’. P.P.S. We take copyright infringement very seriously," they wrote.
The Instagram post appeared to more broadly criticize the game’s message, stating, “We believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them."
The White House Arcade Explained
The White House Arcade debuted on Thursday on the website Arcade.gov. It is stylized with retro games.
A White House official previously told Newsweek the administration is ““laser-focused” on ways to innovate and tell the story of the “President’s many accomplishments in a way that resonates with every American.”
The launch of the arcade has prompted questions about whether the administration’s references to these games could result in copyright concerns.
Late on Tuesday, the official White House Instagram account posted a video entitled “The Legend of Trump, Make America Great Again,” in the style of the video game series The Legend of Zelda.
That game, primarily developed and published by Nintendo, follows the various incarnations of Link and Princess Zelda as they fight to save the land of Hyrule from Ganon, an evil demon king.
The initial response to that post has been mixed. The video has been liked over 75,000 times, but the comment section has been filled with many criticizing the post. The actor John DiMaggio wrote in a comment liked over 6,000 times “Are you f****** serious with this s***? Worst administration ever.”
Newsweek has reached out to Nintendo via an online contact form for comment outside of regular business hours.
Nintendo has not publicly responded to the post from The White House, but the Zelda-inspired video comes as Nintendo announced that the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda is in production, set for theatrical release on April 30, 2027.
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