Panic announced that pre-orders for its Playdate portable console began on July 29, 2021.
“It's been a great year for Playdate.– says Greg Maletic, project manager, – When we started, we didn't realize how big the audience would be for a strange product like this, but we told the factory – 20,000. The fact that more than 53,000 have now been sold (and growing) is encouraging. And this at a time when parts shortages have forced our delivery times to reach a year. As these lead times shorten and Playdate deliveries become faster, we look forward to an even better second year”.
The company says it has already shipped 27,000 pre-ordered consoles and is “working hard” on completing remaining orders.
For those not in the know:
Playdate – this is a portable game consolefrom the Panic company, which was announced in 2019. It has a small black and white screen and looks quite unusual, with a built-in D-shaped control panel. The console has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB-C ports, as well as a battery that can last up to 24 hours on a single charge.
One of the main features of Playdate is thatshe has access to new games through weekly updates for 12 weeks. These games will be released exclusively for Playdate and will be available to users free of charge. The console will also support classic Game Boy and Game Boy Color games thanks to a built-in emulator.
According to Panic, Playdate was created withidea to provide users with something new and fresh in the world of handheld game consoles, so it is different from conventional devices that are based on powerful hardware and large screens.