The technique was created to circumvent the Atari 2600's hardware limitations, which prevented it from rendering more than six unique sprites simultaneously on a single horizontal scan line.

[1][4] Atari was reportedly not expecting to win the lawsuit, but was merely using it as a scare tactic to pressure Activision into leaving the video game industry, dissuade others from doing business with them, or otherwise hinder them with red tape and costly legal trouble.

"[1][2] It is often claimed that these people were Atari's lawyers, who had approached Crane about the Venetian blinds technique;[3][4] however, this is a rumor stemming from a misreporting of events by the Atari history fansite AtariProtos, which had first revealed the existence of Venetian Blinds on the internet on October 18, 2002, per information from an Activision employee to AtariProtos site owner Matt Reichert.

[1] Venetian Blinds was first officially released to the public in late 2003, when it was included as part of the Windows, macOS, and Game Boy Advance ports of Activision Anthology.

[1][2] On January 2, 2005, Thomas Jentzsch and Matt Reichert released the binary for Venetian Blinds online as a free download through Atari fansite AtariAge.

[1] Bad Game Hall of Fame, in an article about Venetian Blinds, stated "[i]t's honestly something of a stretch to even call it a 'game'", but noted its historical importance.

The article also criticized its inclusion on Game Room, and highlighted Activision allowing it to be sold for money as a sign the company "became the very soulless husk they sought to spite so long ago".