No Playdates for the vacations.Portland tech firm Panic mentioned Thursday that supply of its Playdate handheld video game system has been delayed until subsequent yr after it found defective batteries in most of the first batch off the manufacturing line.“We discovered a variety of items with batteries so drained, Playdate wouldn’t energy on in any respect — and couldn’t be charged. That’s a battery worst-case situation,” Panic mentioned in an electronic mail to Playdate clients.Panic mentioned it spent months working the issue, halting manufacturing at its manufacturing facility in Malaysia earlier than deciding to interchange all its batteries with new ones from a distinct provider.So it’s sending these first 5,000 Playdates again to Malaysia for brand new batteries, which implies they gained’t be in clients’ fingers by the tip of the yr, as Panic had promised. Instead, the primary 20,000 orders will arrive in “early 2022.”“We’re very sorry, and we’re particularly sorry for these of you who had been planning to offer a Playdate as a vacation reward,” Panic mentioned in its electronic mail.Subsequent orders already positioned gained’t arrive until someday later subsequent yr, in response to the Portland firm, with some arriving close to the tip of 2022.Playdate is a $179, retro video game that harkens again to the Nineteen Eighties, with a black-and-white display, a directional button pad and a crank on the dimensions to offer it an idiosyncratic aptitude. The devices generated monumental enthusiasm when Panic introduced the Playdate again in 2019 and the corporate bought out its preliminary batch of 20,000 in simply 20 minutes after they went on sale in July.It’s the primary foray into pc {hardware} for Panic, which focuses on software program for Apple merchandise. And it’s been a bumpy street – Panic had initially deliberate to have the primary devices in avid gamers’ fingers early in 2020. The battery flaw means they’ll now arrive two years behind that concentrate on.Panic has endured a bumpy street with Playdate, dealing with provide chain points, pandemic-related obstacles and now a serious manufacturing failure.Panic mentioned Thursday that the pc electronics scarcity has sophisticated manufacturing for the following 30,000 Playdates that clients have already ordered. The system’s central processor was backordered for greater than two years.“Maybe you’ve heard in regards to the ‘world chip scarcity’ everybody’s speaking about? We’re right here to say it is extremely actual,” Panic mentioned in Thursday’s electronic mail. “Covid-19 brought on an ever-cascading set of worldwide provide chain failures which can be resulting in many, many digital components being merely… gone.”However, Panic mentioned it has revised its foremost circuit board to make use of a extra available processor. It gained’t change game play, in response to the corporate, and means it expects to have the ability to ship the following 30,000 orders within the second half of subsequent yr.While Panic mentioned it expects to ship all of its first 50,000 orders in 2022, subsequent orders nearly actually gained’t arrive earlier than 2023.“There are a variety of different half shortages we’re making an attempt to outsmart proper now, and whereas it’s demanding and irritating, relaxation assured we are going to do every thing we are able to to make as many Playdates as we are able to for you,” Panic mentioned in its electronic mail.– Mike Rogoway | [email protected] | Twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
Portland company’s Playdate video game system delayed until 2022 by battery failure
