Pac-Man grossed over $2.5 billion despite initial critical dismissal as childish.

Evidence

Pac-Man soon became an even more lasting and profitable hit than Space Invaders, as its appeal went beyond its demographic target. Some early video game critics were dismissive. Omni magazine decried “the latest craze,” which it called “a silly ‘gooble or be goobled’ game.” “Those cute little PacMen with their special nicknames, that dinky signature tune, the dot-munching Lemon that goes whackawhackawhackawhacka: the machine has an air of childish whimsicality,” wrote Amis. Nonetheless, 400,000 of the arcade cabinets were sold worldwide, grossing billions of quarters, 100-yen coins, and other denominations. Over its entire run, by one estimate, Pac-Man earned more than $2.5 billion by the 1990s. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 689

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the dismissive-critics-beating-commercial-hits pattern also seen in earlier chapters on radio and television’s early reception.