Panic has sold over 50,000 Playdate handhelds to date

Panic’s handheld online game console, the Playdate, was launched in April 2022, and the corporate revealed that it sold 53,142 models in only a yr’s time. That’s over two and a half instances greater than Panic initially deliberate on producing.

The firm started taking pre-orders for the lovable indie handheld console on the finish of July 2021, and was uncertain if it could have the option to transfer the 20,000 models. Customers blew that quantity out of the water inside 20 minutes.

The Playdate’s demand is simple, however typically that may complicate issues greater than initially anticipated. Panic was met with a vital battery situation throughout the first batch’s manufacturing course of, which led to the corporate switching suppliers and delaying the discharge of the console-with-a-crank to 2022.

Manufacturing prices have been one other wrench thrown into the gears of the Playdate’s manufacturing and sale, inflicting the console’s value to be drastically raised from $20 to $199 in April of 2023.

The firm has shipped round 27,000 models and is assured that it may well fulfill all preorders by the top of 2023. After that, Panic will look to begin delivery the Playdate Stereo Dock, an accompanying charger/speaker combo for the console.

Those lucky sufficient to get their arms on one of many quirky consoles will get entry to a library consisting of 24 video games, with over 400 titles out there on Itch.io. Panic says that nearly 40 p.c of customers have sideloaded video games or apps onto the console. They have additionally launched ‘Catalog,’ a built-in retailer for customers to set up video games and apps.

For an organization that’s confronted its fair proportion of hiccups alongside the best way, 50,000+ Playdate consoles sold in a single yr is a good larger accomplishment than it sounds.

Image credit score: Panic 

Source: Panic Via: Engadget