The Tengen version of this game, which was released on the NES, is the most controversial one. A division of Atari, Tengen was specialised in making unauthorised games for third-party consoles, including this version of Tetris. The company bypassed a lockout chip of the NES, which designed by Nintendo to block unlicenced third-party games. However, Tengen faced a lawsuit involving distribution of its own Tetris game, and it was discovered that they had bought the rights from a company called Mirrorsoft, which did not own the rights in the first place. As a result, Tengen lost the case. Their Tetris version was soon recalled from stores, and Nintendo released their own official version for the NES after that.
Was one of the first six video games to be inducted into the National Museum of Play's World Video Game Hall of Fame.
When the game first came to America in 1987, the copyrights to the game were being tracked poorly and over a dozen gaming companies claimed to have the rights to the game. Two years later, Nintendo had officially won the rights to Tetris in a legal battle.
Was the best-selling video game of all time from 1993 until 2020, when it was surpassed by Minecraft (2009). However, it should be noted that that count includes all ports of the game, which vary technically from one version to the next. The now-defunct mobile version developed by EA had alone sold over 100 million copies, making it the third best-selling game after Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V (2013). The Tetris franchise as a whole has sold nearly 500 million copies, making it the second best-selling game franchise after Mario.