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Bandai Namco Trademarks 'Pac-Man Maker'
Is it the dawn of a new era for gaming's iconic power-pellet muncher, or just a move to protect the IP?
An eagle-eyed NeoGAF user has spotted a new trademark that Bandai Namco filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office yesterday. The filing trademarks the name "Pac-Man Maker" and falls under two classifications, both of which cover video games.
Video game companies often file trademarks for names and titles they don't necessarily intend to turn into future products in order to protect their franchises or keep their options open. During peak Skyrim hysteria Zenimax trademarked the terms "Dragonborn" and "Fus Ro Dah," while Level-5 has trademarked eyebrow-raising titles such as "Rare Drop Adventurer Note" and "Earth Devastating B-rank Girlfriend."
If Pac-Man Maker is a real game, however, it's easy to imagine the Mario Maker-style possibilities of creating your own level grids, or even making custom avatars and enemies in the vein of IDARB or 3D Dot Game Heroes. Until Bandai Namco comments on the matter or makes an announcement, we're stuck a waiting game.
We've reached out to Bandai Namco and will update our story if we receive a response.
Our Take
Pac-Man and his
associates have shown up on pretty much every platform known to man (plus Google
Maps for good measure), but the ability to put your own touch on the action
would certainly be an interesting wrinkle. Hopefully it turns out to be more than
just trademark shenanigans.
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