Tod Frye - Unprecedented Success

Unprecedented Success

The Pac-Man port was started in May 1981, and was the most anticipated release for 1982, so marketing pressed Frye to produce the game on a very strict timetable (in the early 1980s lead times on the cartridge ROMs was several months, so the code needed to be completed in September 1981 to get the product into stores in Q1 1982). Atari corporate management demanded Frye complete the game in the standard 4K ROM, despite his repeated requests that 8K of ROM be allocated. Atari would manufacture 12 million Pac-Man cartridges, making Frye a millionaire in the process.