Quirky handheld console Playdate has been delayed until 2022 after developer Panic encountered issues with its batteries.
The company announced the delay via Twitter, warning those who pre-ordered the Playdate that their consoles won’t be shipping until next year.
“There’s bad news,” they announced. “A battery tragedy means Late 2021 units are now Early 2022 – see email for your timing. But also good news (Pulp + SDK release dates!).”
“Your continued Playdate enthusiasm and patience — as we try to ship hardware during an intense time — is really keeping us going,” they added. “Thank you.”
Hi! If you've pre-ordered a Playdate, check your email for a copy of the "Playdate Owner's Update #1".
There's bad news (a battery tragedy means Late 2021 units are now Early 2022, see email for your timing) but also good news (Pulp+SDK release dates!!)
Thanks for reading it. pic.twitter.com/03BUolZetY
— Playdate (@playdate) November 11, 2021
An additional statement has revealed the extend of the Playdate’s battery issues – some consoles were essentially built with dud batteries.
“As our first 5,000 finished Playdate units arrived at our warehouse in California for 2021, we began to test a few of them,” explained Panic. “We quickly became concerned that some of them weren’t giving us the battery life we expected. Playdate’s battery is designed to last a very long time, and always be ready for you, even if not used for a while. But that was not the case: in fact, we found a number of units with batteries so drained, Playdate wouldn’t power on at all — and couldn’t be charged.”
Further testing led to a tough decision – replacing every battery in every Playdate.
