Ms. Pac-Man and the Mario Brothers never dreamed it would come to this.

NYU will open a 40,000-square-foot institute to study video games in Downtown Brooklyn next fall.

The Media and Games Network, based at the MetroTech Center, will bring together existing NYU programs in such fields as game design, game engineering and games for learning.

The programs are now split between NYU’s Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn and its main campus. in Greenwich Village.

NYU became one of the first colleges to offer a master’s program in game design last year at its Game Center in the Village.

Frank J. Lee, co-founder of the game-design program at Drexel University, said the NYU move “provides legitimacy for gaming as a serious academic endeavor.”