Everything You Need To Know About The Playdate
It’s been a long time since the Playdate was first announced in 2019, and you might have either forgotten about it or assumed it was cancelled. Neither are true…not only is the Playdate project very much alive but they’ve finally committed to a release window.
And if you really and truly forgot the Playdate, it’s a quirky yellow handheld device from developer Panic, Inc (Untitled Goose Game) that has a crank for a control. The technology is purposely retro with a black-and-white unlit screen. All its games will be indie, and there will also be accessories like the Playdate Stereo Deck, which charges your Playdate when it’s not in use, changes its shape to a solid square and also has a built-in pencil holder, in case you need it.
You don’t buy games for the Playdate….the games find you instead. Two games will be released per week and will auto-download to your device; a nearly full list was revealed today and is posted below. Not only this, Panic will give you the tools to make your own Playdate games and offer them on the service. Crazy!
- Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure by uvula
- Battleship Godios by TPM.CO Soft Works
- Boogie Loops by May-Lie Khoe and Andy Matuschak
- Casual Birder by Diego Garcia and Max Coburn
- DemonQuest 85 by Alex Ashby, Lawrence Bishop, Duncan Fyfe, Belinda Leung, and Jared Emerson-Johnson
- Echoic Memory by Samantha Kalma, Everest Pipkin, Carol Mertz, and Rachelle Viola
- Executive Golf DX by davemakes
- Flipper Lifter by Serenity Forge
- Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke by Nels Anderson and Christina “castpixel” Neofotistou
- Hyper Meteor by Vertex Pop
- Lost Your Marbles by Sweet Baby Inc. & Friends
- Omaze by Gregory Kogos
- Pick Pack Pup by Nic Magnier, Arthur Hamer, and Logan Gabriel
- Questy Chess by Dadako
- Ratcheteer by Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, and Charlie Davis
- Sasquatchers by Chuck Jordan
- Snak by Zach Gage and Neven Mrgan
- Spellcorked! by Jada Gibbs, Nick Splendorr, Ryan Splendorr, Tony Ghostbrite, and Em Halberstadt
- Zipper by Bennett Foddy
- Saturday Edition by Chris Makris, Gord McGladdery, and Alfonso Salinas
- Whitewater Wipeout by Chuhai Labs
So how much will all this cost? The original plan was to keep the Playdate under $150, but when the pandemic hit and the price of all raw materials shot up, that price point became impossible. The new and finalized price is now $179. Preorders will open next month and begin shipping later in the year, but Panic says purchases will be fulfilled in the order they are received in and the longer you take to buy one, the longer you’ll probably have to wait.