Playdate, the hotly anticipated handheld video game system from Portland tech company Panic, sold all 20,000 of its initial manufacturing run in just 20 minutes Thursday.
Panic is taking orders for more of the $179 devices but won’t deliver them until sometime next year.
Playdate is a throwback to small handheld video game systems from the 1980s. Instead of incorporating the latest graphics and sharpest graphics, Panic equipped Playdate with an old school directional pad, a black-and-white screen and a crank on the side.
It’s meant to be both nostalgic and innovative. The game comes with 24 games, to be delivered over a dozen weeks like episodes of a TV series.
Playdate’s retro style triggered fevered interest but presented enormous challenges for Panic, which is primarily a software company. It announced Playdate more than two years ago and initially planned to start delivering the gadgets early in 2020.
A factory shutdown in Malaysia early in the pandemic triggered a succession of delays, but they apparently didn’t derail gamers’ interest in Playdate. Panic reported some issues with international orders Thursday but said those have now been resolved.
-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
Ad Choices