A CULTURAL ICON WHOSE popularity has crossed the globe for more than 30 years, Pac-Man’s journey through the maze of gaming fame continues.

© NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.

Pac-Man has been noted by the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2010 as the ”Most Recognizable Video Game Character”, and is also a classic in the Nordic countries where the arcade game was introduced already in the early 1980s. Today, Pac-Man is known to new generations in successful games for consoles as well as cell phones and other handheld devices, and the design qualities of Pac-Man himself and the ghost characters Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde ensure that the property stands very strong as a licensing franchise.

Developed by Toru Iwatani (a game designer of Namco), the Pac-Man arcade game was first released in Japan in May 1980 and introduced into the US and Europe later the same year. Players can move on to the next stage as Pac-Man eats all the cookies within the stage avoiding the ghosts. The cute actions of eating the cookies and the electronic sound effects, the unusual and unique at the time and last but not least the game element dramatically reversing when Pac-Man eats the power pellet gaining the ability to catch the ghosts has been very popular among the consumers. Pac-Man was a sensational success, spawning a merchandising program, an animated television series and a song sold over 1 million records receiving a Golden Album award.

Since its launch as an arcade game, Pac-Man has been developed for numerous platforms and spawned many sequels. Recent game releases include Pac-Man Party for Wii and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX for PS3/XB360, the arcade games Pac-Man Battle Royale and Pac-Man Arcade Party, and multiple titles for mobile devices (iPhone/iPod Touch, PC, PC Online Game, SNS). Still today over 30 years after its first release, the game continues to be loved by people all around the world.

Plus Licens represents Namco Bandai for merchandising and promotional rights to Pac-Man in the Nordic countries.