History
The tech tree was originally designed for Civilization (board game) by Francis Tresham (game designer) that was released in 1980 by Avalon Hill.
The arcade shoot 'em up Gradius (video game) used a power-up system functionally identical to a tech tree in 1985.
Tech trees started showing up in turn-based strategy games around 1990, where Mega Lo Mania had a system of research levels/epochs that allowed the deployment of better units and defenses. Civilization (1991) was probably the first game to feature the same basic structure of tech trees seen in games today. 1992's Dune II is another example of an early game featuring tech trees.
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