Up, Down ,Up, Down, A,B,A,B...Turn Crank?: An introduction to Playdate and it's Upcoming Preorder

As a kid of the 80’s, I grew up in the golden age of handheld consoles with the Nintendo Gameboy and Sega Game Gear. As the years continued, the world witnessed the growth of the Gameboy brand with the Gameboy Advance and the ever popular DS and 3DS. Also, with the advancement of handheld devices like tablets and smartphones, mobile games became a multi—billion dollar industry that also spawned amazing titles that are best experienced in the palm of your hand. Sadly, we also saw the Sun set on other competing handhelds from Sega, Lynx, and Sony.

The handheld market can be profitable but it has become difficult to break into and to stay relevant. Unlike most handheld manufacturers, Nintendo has continued to see success as they ventured into handheld gaming with the Switch, which marries the concept of a handheld with a stationary home console. With Nintendo’s strongarm on this market and Steam working on the Steam Deck to provide a PC version for PC gamers, can anyone else come into the limited space? One company dared to be that other challenger while carving out a niche of their own: Panic. Panic has already started to create a name for themselves with publishing popular titles like Untitled Goose Game and Firewatch. While those things are fine and dandy, how does that translate to making a game console? Well, it doesn’t. That’s the odd part about it all. It’s an unexpected move that not only made others take notice but it also made what they displayed even more of a event that many want to partake in.

Panic first announced Playdate back in May 2019 and caught the attention of gamers who are interested in new, inventive ways to interact with unique experiences. From its small formfactor to the inclusion of a crank on the right side of the device, Playdate had a unique way of looking familiar while also looking like something brand new at the same time. The device was also featured on the cover of EDGE magazine (Issue 333) and sealed itself as the new hyped hardware that wasn’t competing with the main console manufacturers, but trying to form a unique pocket in the gaming genre that only they would occupy. On the day of it’s announcement, they allowed for gamers to sign up for more information on a waitlist, which grew to over 70,000 individuals over a timespan of 24 hours. The word of preorders coming soon was in the air but then, like everything else in the world, things started to slow down and delays came due to the pandemic. Fast-forward to today, July 25th, and the hype is still as strong today as it was in May two years ago.

What Do we Know Now about the Device?

The Playdate is an handheld device that features the traditional four way d-pad, A and B buttons, a sleep and menu button, and a monochromatic 400 x 240 1-bit screen. The console also has a 3-axis accelerometer and a crank. For storage, it has 4 GB of Flash memory. The battery can last for 8 hours with active use or up to 14 days on standby clock mode. There’s also build-in Wifi, Bluetooth, a mono speaker, a a condenser mic. All of this and more is packed into a device that measures up to 76 X 74 X 9 mm. While the device is not a powerhouse like the upcoming Steam Deck, it does have the power needed in order to display and play the games crafted just for the Playdate.

What about the Games?

They also created a subscription service that, at no additional cost, will send you two new games a week, over a span of twelve weeks. These games are being presented as a Season of games and will total to 24 unique titles. There are several games already presented, that appear to be very interesting and require different ways to input controls, from using solely the crank to manipulate time or use the build-in accelerometer to tilt the console to control the object on screen. Videos of some of the first released titles are already available online. Start at the 3 minute 35 second time mark to see some clips of the upcoming games from Season One. The video also gives a spotlight on other aspirations Panic has for this adorable handheld.

Details for Upcoming Preorder

As mentioned earlier, the official preorder date for the Playdate is July 29th, 2021 (this coming Thursday). If you’re interested in getting updates directly from Panic, they have created a sign-up link to allow potential buyers to know more about the process and time of sale. While preorders are going to start on Thursday, only a smaller amount of devices will be available this year (roughly around 20,000 units). There will also be a Playdate Cover available for purchase for $29. A Bluetooth Dock for the console will be released at a later time.

Panic has limited the purchases to 2 per customer and does require full payment at the submission of your order. The rest of the preorders that go beyond the allocated amount for this year will be fulfilled during 2022. While it means that some will not be able to get their order this year, I do appreciate that Panic is setting up expectations for the hectic ordering process that may happen this Thursday. Along with the Playdate, you can order the I hope those who are interested in it are able to receive their order sooner than later. We have already set our alarms and waiting to get on the list of early adopters. If successful, we will have more coverage of the device on the site.

The Potential Future of PlayDate

Uncertainty of a device’s longevity makes anyone wary of spending $180 on an unproven concept. While this concern is legitimate, Panic is working to make sure that this concern is addressed where it matters most: software development. For any game producer, big or small, Panic is going to provide a software development kit for free. Along with the SDK is Playdate Pulp, a web browser based editor so you can make games for this device without knowing how to code. Also, the Playdate device can be used to test created games before submitting them. The marketplace for these games is still being developed. They did mention on their Dev FAQ that you can choose to sell the games any way you want but a official way to distribute the games is will eventually come. If someone wants to try their hand at gaming development, this could be a great start.

If this struck an interest with you, check out Playdate on Panic’s website: https://play.date/ I have a great feeling that this device will be a great experience and has the potential to have longevity, depending on the passion of the developers and the audience this device attracts.