Pearl Lai, Brand Manager at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America, joins Yahoo Finance's The First Trade to discuss Pac-Man's anniversary and the future for the game.
Video Transcript
BRIAN SOZZI: We bought a birthday cake and a present, because today is Pac-Man's 40th birthday. And to mark the occasion, Bandai Namco is teaming up with Amazon's Twitch to provide a new co-op multiplayer experience. Joining us for more is Pearl Lai. She is the brand manager at Bandai Namco Entertainment America. Pearl, good to see you this morning. And 40 years, I can't believe Pac-Man is 40 years old. How are you making this brand relevant for this current generation of gamers?
PEARL LAI: You know, thank you so much. It's been really great to have-- be working on this brand. This is one of the most iconic gaming brands, I think, of all time. And it's been in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for the most relevant and most iconic arcade generation-- arcade brand of that generation.
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You know, it's-- it's definitely one of those very, like, long-lived brands. And when you think of the '80s, you definitely think of Pac-Man for that era. And you know, it's going to challenge to-- you know, we always want to stay relevant. We want to stay consistent with-- with what's happening in the world today. Want to make sure that we're still speaking to our audiences that are growing and new. And, you know, we've been doing that through different-- new game-- new game releases.
Through all the years, we've been on basically every console, every arcade since the beginning. And you know, we're really happy now to be coming to the Twitch platform too.
DAN HOWLEY: Pearl, this is Dan. I just want to kind of ask, you know, when you see the new generation of games coming out and you look back at what Pac-Man was and how it still holds people's attention, how do you think that-- that manages to line up? You know, you have things like "Fortnite, Call of Duty" but then "Pac-Man," you know, just a simple maze. Why do you think that has such appeal?
PEARL LAI: Well, I think it's one of the classic games of all time. Like, I think, you know, there's reasons why games like Connect 4 and Uno and, you know, these are all things that are games in the modern pop culture-- culture sphere, not-- not just in the videogame sphere. So we're really glad to sort of at least have such a simple-- simple but accessible gameplay.
I mean, the story behind the title is the father of Pac-Man Toro Otani essentially saw at the time that there were all these games, all the arcades are packed with guys, you know, going to their kids and spending their quarters. And he wanted to create something that was appealing not just to men but also to women. And that's sort of where the idea of Pac-Man, you know, something that was appealing to, you know, men, women, basically everyone.
And from that, that was sort of the roots of how we sort of still have this brand that's still so beloved and so meaningful to a lot of people today.
I think also with the collaboration that we've done throughout the years-- I mean, from a licensing standpoint, there've been so many different Pac-Man merchandise type products throughout the years. I mean, everything from arcade cabinets to-- to Chef Boyardee to flip phones to record books, 40th anniversary books, collaborations with different IP through the years with Hello Kitty, Coach. We're still-- we're still-- you know, we've still got it. And even last year, we did some collaboration with Champion, with Bait. And you know, I think we've still been able to-- to still be part of where-- where people are talking about brands and cool things today. And you know, we're very-- we're very glad to be able to have that opportunity.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: Pac-Man is very close to my heart. And Ms. Pac-Man was well. I mean, I grew up in the '80s. And you know, there was a candy store on the corner of where I lived. And this was before you were able to play at home. I would run down there with quarters that my parents [GARBLED AUDIO]
--and just put up residence in the candy store and play "Pac-Man" all the time. Yeah, I was like the high scorer.
PEARL LAI: Yeah!
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: I want to know what this pandemic has meant to your company. How has it impacted your company and demand for games like these retro games?
PEARL LAI: You know, I think pandemic is-- it's a time for everyone to kind of-- you know, I think a lot of us are shelter in place. And a lot of us are now finding, you know, new ways or kind of revisiting old ways to spend their time. And you know, we-- we've been-- we're understanding of sort of that-- sort of challenge of like, oh, my god, you're at home. What do you do?
So we've been able to partner with some companies on our side to try to provide some entertainment to our fans. So for instance, we were just recently part of Google's stay home and play initiative where they basically-- for their Google doodles, they resurfaced some of the boast-- the most-- the best, most loved Google doodles from their time. And they included the Pac-Man 2010 Google doodle, the 30th anniversary doodle, where-- the one that famously sucked away 4.8 million hours of worker productivity. So that was really fun.
We also partnered with Playing for the Planet recently and also provided free copies of the most recent Pac-Man release, "Pac-Man Championship Edition 2" on Steam PC-- sorry, on Steam-- Steam, Microsoft Xbox, and Sony Playstation for-- for over a million consumers in the US. So it was really great. We were really happy to be able to share that kind of experience for everybody and provide a way for people to, you know, try to distract themselves and entertain themselves during this-- this crazy time.
BRIAN SOZZI: Sure.
PEARL LAI: I know it's really difficult to-- it's really difficult to sort of-- you know, everyone's trying to stay sane during the pandemic. And there's a lot going on. And we're able to-- we're happy that we were able to provide a little bit of lightness and enjoyment to-- to our fans.
BRIAN SOZZI: Well, well said. Let's leave it there. Pearl Lai, brand manager at Bandai Namco Entertainment America. Go enjoy the big day and the long weekend.
PEARL LAI: Thank you. Have a great weekend. Happy birthday, Pac-Man.