Pac-Man is coming to Roblox in Pac-Man Simulator, and no, we’re not talking about all those Pac-Man clones already on the platform.
Supersocial, which has built brand experiences in Roblox for the Rolling Stones and various makeup lines, partnered with Bandai Namco on the official effort, which will be a “reimagination” of the original game. From screenshots on the Roblox page, it looks like there will be multiple thematically-distinct levels that are rendered in 3D. It’s also currently in paid beta, so the audience is small at the time of this writing.
As with many Roblox games, there are paid microtransactions you can get with platform currency. You can buy boosts in the Roblox store, including passes that can increase your luck or double Pac-Man’s speed. There are also skins, pets to collect, and challenges to complete that can unlock more worlds.
There have been plenty of other user-developed Pac-Man games in Roblox, which play around with basic elements like the ghost enemies, the labyrinth level setup, and the goal to collect as many orbs as you can before getting caught. You can find a ton of horror Pac-Man-related projects as well. Since the concept of Pac-Man was basically perfect from the start, you can say most games where you run away from enemies in a maze are Pac-Man-inspired.
Many actual companies have been working to get their brands in Roblox and other user-generated creators like Fortnite. In June, Ikea announced it was hiring 10 paid customer service workers to work inside a virtual Roblox store that was “designed to introduce users to the breadth of roles and career progression routes available at Ikea.”
This has been going on for a few years — just look at this Gucci Garden in Roblox from 2021 or this Samsung experience with Charlie XCX. However, the thing with Roblox is that its audience is primarily children. According to Statista, 21% of users by December 2023 were under 9 years old, with the most prolific group being the 17-to-24 demographic. Supersocial’s goal with the Pac-Man experience is to cross over that generational gap.
“This endeavor is about celebrating the ubiquity and accessibility of Pac-Man to champion connections across generations,” said Supersocial CEO Yon Raz-Fridman in a press release. “The experience serves as a conduit for parents, who often played Pac-Man in arcades, to join their families in the immersive world of Roblox.”
A lot of investment is going into the user-generated content world right now. In February, Disney invested $1.5 billion into Fortnite publisher Epic Games to create a “multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more” — basically a virtual Disney universe set up like a theme park.
