Trial of the Space Invaders

The Case that Changed Video Games

By: Simon Parkin

In the autumn of 1988, in a New York City courtroom, two video game giants faced off over a question as simple as it was explosive: who invented video games?

For more than a decade, Magnavox had used a set of foundational patents to extract more than $100 million from its rivals. The patents reached back to the medium's origins: a 1966 prototype from which the first home video game console - and, Magnavox argued, an entire industry - had sprung.

Nintendo saw things differently. As Super Mario Bros. conquered the world, the Japanese toymaker set out to prove that, not only had Magnavox not invented video games, but also the patents had even been fraudulently obtained. The case threatened to rewrite the medium's creation story. If Nintendo succeeded, Magnavox's patent empire could collapse.

Based on court records, interviews and previously unseen sources, Trial of the Space Invaders is the untold story of the lawsuit that defined modern gaming. Simon Parkin takes us on a thrilling journey from the birth of a new artform to its turning point, exposing the secret settlement that reshaped our culture.©2027 Simon Parkin (P)2027 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

PRAISE FOR THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN OF LENINGRAD
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Royal Society Science Book Prize

'An astonishing story brilliantly told . . . It is as moving as it is gripping to read'
Jonathan Dimbleby, author of Endgame 1944

'A richly researched and meticulously observed account of a little-explored corner of 20th-century history'
Guardian

PRAISE FOR THE ISLAND OF EXTRAORDINARY CAPTIVES:
Winner of the Wingate Prize

'Vivid and moving'
Max Hastings, Sunday Times

'Eye-opening, insightful and brilliantly written'
Daily Mirror