Vladimir Pokhilko

Vladimir Ivanovich Pokhilko (Russian: Владимир Иванович Похилько; 8 April 1954 – 21 September 1998) was a Soviet Russian psychologist, entrepreneur, and video game designer. He was an academic who specialized in human–computer interaction.

Early life Vladimir Ivanovich Pokhilko was born on 8 April 1954, in Moscow. He played an important role in the subsequent development and marketing of the game, and a 1999 article in the Forbes magazine credited him for "co-inventing the seminal videogame Tetris". He later collaborated with Pajitnov on the Zombie Studios game Ice & Fire.

Technology company AnimaTek In 1989, he and Pajitnov founded the 3D software technology company AnimaTek in Moscow. While attempting to create software for INTEC (a company they started) that would be made for "people's souls", they developed the idea for El-Fish, a video game.

Murder-suicide After experiencing financial difficulties at his software company, AnimaTek, Pokhilko murdered his wife, Elena Fedotova (38) and their son, Peter (12), by bludgeoning and stabbing them both to death in their home in Palo Alto, California. He then killed himself.

The Pokhilko case was investigated by the FBI in 1998, and was the subject of the three part documentary, The Tetris Murders (2022).