Tetris is now the most purchased mobile game ever: Alexey Pajitnov dances with joy

When Tetris was first released in the mid-1980s, its creator basically got screwed. Under the USSR, the government held all copyrights and the game was distributed for free. With the founding of the Tetris Company in 1996, Alexey Pajitnov has been able to draw profits from his creation - so the news that it is now (once again) the most downloaded mobile game in existence is welcome news.

What’s the story?

We’re talking about actual downloads here. In terms of being on the largest number of phones, Snake is the still top dog - thanks to Nokia putting it on every device (including the 200 million selling 1100 series).

But EA Mobile reports that over 100 million mobile phones have paid for a Tetris downloaded since EA bought the rights in 2005. And while it hasn’t announced actual revenue figures from that, we can assume that EA Mobile and the Tetris Company are very happy.

Well, not really that Tetris Company. It’s mostly owned by Blue Planet Software and… you know what, it doesn’t really matter.

What we think?

I’m inclined to think that there isn’t any real lesson to be learned here. No one really understands just why Tetris is so unshakeably popular. It is the most ported game of all time, having versions made for pretty much any machine that can run a game. Not even Alexey Pajitnov himself understands why it endures so much. It does have certain elements that make it perfect for mobile gaming - it is simply to run, simple to play, and can be controlled with three buttons. You don’t need a touch-screen or any fancy smartphone elements to run it. Tetris abides.