Part 5/10:
Despite Tetris’s growing popularity among his peers at the Academy and beyond, Pajitnov faced major obstacles regarding commercialization due to the political landscape. Games developed at state-sponsored institutions technically belonged to the government, and selling software was virtually impossible in the Soviet Union.
Entering the Western Market
By 1986, Tetris began spreading across the Soviet Union, reaching a wider audience thanks to its addictive gameplay. It caught the attention of Robert Stein, a businessman in Hungary, who saw the potential for a licensing deal. However, the road to securing Tetris for the Western market was rife with complexity. Stein initially negotiated with Pajitnov without realizing the rights complicated web woven amongst Soviet bureaucracies.