Remember the Playdate? It looked like a squat yellow Game Boy but had a crank handle on the side. Don’t worry; until a recent Ars Technica article popped up, I, too, had forgotten about the system.
The monochrome console launched last year to good reviews, and if you wanted to pick up a Playdate, now would be the time. Why? Because the console is about to jump up in price.
The next batch of Playdate consoles is set to hit the market at the end of 2023, but the pre-order price of $179 will only be good until April 7th. After that, prospective buyers will have to pay $199. According to Ars Technica, the reason for the upcharge is “because our factory recently gave us the inevitable news that in 2023, the price of building a single Playdate is going up.”
This isn’t entirely surprising since nearly everything from insurance premiums to groceries have rocketed up 10-20% in the past twelve months. At least the system is delivering new games on a regular basis, with the newest catalog being updated as of yesterday.
So if you’re on the fence about spending almost $200 for something that only plays black-and-white indie games, check out the video below to see if any of those titles look like they’re worth your cash:
We covered the Playdate before its original release quite a while ago. Since then, it’s flown under the radar, although it has been getting decent reviews. It’s just a very niche product. The first 12 weeks after the Playdate launched, owners were to get two new titles each week. So, six months on, how is the quirky handheld doing?
According to some YouTubers, the platform needs some killer apps and a better storefront. However, there’s still quite a bit of positivity surrounding the Playdate. It seems you have to be really into weird controls or super interested in indie games.
What do you think about the Playdate? Let us know below.
[Source: Ars Technica]
