Ms. Pac-Man Has Apparently Been Replaced With a New Character

It seems that a conflict over the rights to Ms. Pac-Man may have resulted in the creation of a new replacement character. A few days ago, Pac-Land was released on as part of the Arcade Archives series. Twitter user @nickisonlinet noticed that the character models for Ms. Pac-Man and Baby Pac have both been altered in the game. Notably, Ms. Pac-Man’s trademark red bow and boots have been replaced by a pink hat and heels. It seems that this was done by Bandai Namco in an attempt to avoid paying the rights to use these characters.

The Tweet from @nickisonlinet showcasing the differences can be found below.

so apparently I found out that the Arcade Archives release of Pac-Land that comes out tomorrow was modified to replace Ms. Pac-Man (as well as Baby Pac) to have the new Pac-Mom character from Pac-Man Museum +.

look at what you did to us AtGames pic.twitter.com/gEDNpXGMfV

— Nick C. (@nickisonlinet) April 6, 2022

In the thread, Nick points to a Tweet from a developer on the Arcade Archives series, who goes by @EZ_Takayoshi on Twitter. In that Tweet, Takayoshi reveals that changes to the game would have been made on the part of Bandai Namco. In a discussion with Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon! creator Ryan Silberman, Silberman points out that Pac-Mom is also in the upcoming Pac-Man Museum+ collection. The Ms. Pac-Man arcade game is conspicuously absent from the collection, so it would appear that Bandai Namco is actively working to avoid using that character in any capacity.

It seems that the problem stems from a conflict between Bandai Namco and AtGames. The Ms. Pac-Man arcade game was not developed by Namco, instead being created by General Computer Corporation in 1982 and published by Midway. In 2019, AtGames acquired the royalty rights to Ms. Pac-Man from GCC, and Bandai Namco was not happy about how things played out. As a result, Bandai Namco would have to pay AtGames for royalties to use the character, despite the fact that Pac-Man himself is owned by the former company.

Until Bandai Namco and AtGames settle things, it seems that the character will cease to appear in Bandai Namco’s games, to avoid any royalty payments. For now, it seems Pac-Mom is here to stay!

Are you disappointed by these changes? Are you a fan of the original Ms. Pac-Man arcade game? Let usknow inthe comments orshare your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

[H/T: Video Games Chronicle]