Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov is a Soviet computer engineer and video game designer who lives in the United States. He is best known for creating, designing, and developing Tetris in 1985 while working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre under the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. After Tetris was released internationally in 1987, he released a sequel in 1989, entitled Welltris.
Hatris is a puzzle video game developed by Alexey Pajitnov and Vladimir Pokhilko of ParaGraph for Bullet-Proof Software. An arcade version was manufactured by Video System.
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is a survival horror video game developed by Tecmo, Nintendo SPD and Grasshopper Manufacture. The fourth installment in the Fatal Frame series and the first on a Nintendo console, it was released in 2008 by Nintendo for the Wii in Japan. A remaster for eighth and ninth generation consoles and Windows published by Koei Tecmo was released worldwide in 2023.
Tetris Ultimate is a puzzle video game developed by American studio SoMa Play and published by Ubisoft. Ubisoft partnered with The Tetris Company to develop the game to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Tetris franchise.
In the video game industry, 2020 saw the launch of the next generation of video game consoles, with both Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment having released the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles, respectively, in November 2020. The industry was heavily affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which had begun in March and was characterized by COVID-19 lockdowns and remote work. While this caused numerous delays in software and hardware releases and the cancellation of live conferences and events in favor of virtual shows, it also created a boom for the industry as people turned to gaming as a means to pass the time. The industry also reacted to various political/cultural events.
In the video game industry, 2021 saw the release of many new titles. The numerous delays in software and hardware releases due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted development schedules, leading to several games being delayed into 2022 or even postponed indefinitely. Additionally, computer and console hardware were impacted by the combined effects of a semiconductor shortage and a rising growth of bitcoin mining that strained the supply of critical components.
In the video game industry, 2022 saw the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, slowing hardware sales for most of the year as well as development delays for major titles. The industry continued its trend of acquisitions and mergers, highlighted by Microsoft announcing its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. The industry as a whole continued to deal with issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination, alongside crunch periods, leading to at least the quality assurance staff at three separate studios to vote to unionize.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is a puzzle video game developed and published by Sega. It is an installment in the Puyo Puyo series and a direct sequel to Puyo Puyo Tetris. The game was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 8, 2020 with a Windows version released on March 21, 2021. The game was released to generally positive reviews.
Tetris is a 2023 biographical thriller film based on true events around the race to license and patent the video game Tetris from Russia in the late 1980s during the Cold War. It was directed by Jon S. Baird and written by Noah Pink. The film stars Taron Egerton, Nikita Efremov, Sofia Lebedeva, and Anthony Boyle.
In the video game industry, 2023 saw significant changes within larger publishers and developers. Microsoft, after having satisfied worldwide regulatory bodies, completed its US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, making them the third largest game publisher in the world. Embracer Group, which had been in an acquisition spree over the previous few years, had an estimated $2 billion deal fall through, causing many of the studios under Embracer to either lay off staff or close entirely. Similar layoffs were seen at Unity, Amazon, ByteDance, Epic Games, Bungie, and Ubisoft, leading to over 9,000 jobs lost in the industry in 2023 and part of a larger trend of layoffs at technology companies in 2023.
Serenity Forge LLC is an American video game developer and publisher based in Boulder, Colorado. The studio was founded in 2014 by Zhenghua "Z" Yang.
In the video game industry, 2024 saw many events including job losses extending from 2023, including large cuts from Microsoft Gaming, Electronic Arts, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, with over 10,000 jobs cut by May.
KeyWe is a 2021 puzzle-platform video game developed by Stonewheat & Sons and published by Sold Out. The game was released for Windows and Nintendo Switch on August 31, later releasing on September 28 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S ports were released on December 16. KeyWe follows Jeff and Debra, two kiwis working at the Bungalow Basin Telepost Office. KeyWe was prototyped during the 2018 Global Game Jam. Grant Gessel, the technical artist, took inspiration from Going Postal, a story by Terry Pratchett. Rare games such as Banjo-Kazooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day inspired KeyWe's art style. KeyWe received mixed reviews from critics.
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is a 2022 video game compilation and interactive documentary developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Atari to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary. It is composed of newly shot interviews with former Atari employees, archival footage, emulated games from the company's catalog, and six new games inspired by various Atari games. It was released for Atari VCS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 11, 2022.
In the video game industry, 2025 is expected to see the release of many new video games.
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is an interactive documentary and compilation video game developed by Digital Eclipse. The release chronicles the software of British developer Jeff Minter and over 40 of his programs developed between 1981 and 1994. It is the second release in Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series that began with The Making of Karateka (2023), which chronicled the history of the game Karateka (1984).
