The Tetris Company

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Blue Planet Software.png
Blue Planet Software
Type Private
Founded August 10, 1983 (Bullet-Proof Software)
1996 (Blue Planet Software)
Headquarters Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Key people Henk Rogers, founder
Industry Video games
Products Video games
Number of people 2
Website http://www.blueplanetsoftware.com/

Blue Planet Software is a video game company.

Bullet-Proof Software

Henk Rogers formed Bullet-Proof Software in Yokohama, Japan on August 10, 1983.

Tetris

In 1988, Spectrum Holobyte sold its Tetris rights for release in Japan to Henk Rogers through his company, Bullet-Proof Software. Mirrorsoft sold its Tetris rights for release in North America to Atari Games. Atari Games then sold its video game console rights to Henk Rogers.

Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi was an acquaintance of Henk Rogers, so the latter sought to acquire the handheld rights to Tetris. He tried to negotiate with Atari Games and Robert Stein, who had first acquired the Tetris license. However, after being told by Stein that he'd have to consult Elorg first, and trying and failing to negotiate with Stein several times, Henk Rogers traveled to the Soviet Union to negotiate directly with Elorg.

At the meeting, Elorg director Nikolai Belikov was surprised upon seeing a Bullet-Proof Software cartridge of Tetris for the Famicom, as he had thought that only the rights to home computer versions had been signed. Belikov originally claimed Bullet-Proof Software had released the game without a contract, but Rogers explained that he had acquired the rights from Atari Games, who had acquired the rights from Robert Stein.

After learning of the complex licensing agreements, Belikov sought to regain the rights and obtain more financially lucrative contracts. During this period, Rogers befriended Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov, and Pajitnov supported Rogers during the contract negotiations. Belikov proposed that Stein's console and handheld licenses would be canceled and Nintendo would be granted the rights to Tetris for both consoles and handheld systems. Rogers flew to the United States so that he could get Nintendo of America to sign the contracts. Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa and its lawyer Howard Lincoln signed the contracts, as did Belikov, Rogers, and Stein. The latter hadn't read the contract fully and hadn't noticed the section that defined a computer as a machine with a monitor and a keyboard.

Blue Planet Software

In 1996, Henk Rogers formed Blue Planet Software in Honolulu, Hawaii.

On March 31, 2001, Bullet-Proof Software closed, and the rights to the name and software were transferred to Blue Planet Software.

Games by Bulletproof-Software owned by WEC Museum

Title System Release Notes
Tetris Family Computer 1988