The Playdate Handheld Console Preorders Start in July

First announced in May 2019, the Playdate handheld console will officially be available for pre-order in July for $179, per an update from Panic. The update featured a closer look into the new games and the first Playdate accessory.

The first accessory for this handheld console, the Playdate Stereo Dock, has a variety of uses outside of being a speaker for the Playdate itself. The dock also charges the console and can be used as a pen holder (the pen will also be provided).

One of the most exciting elements about the Playdate is the new variety of games coming to the console itself. In the first season of games for Playdate, users will receive all 24 games for free. The games will be individually transferred to the console twice per week for 12 weeks.

Panic has been working with many different developers to create brand new games for the console, including a partnership with Sweet Baby, Inc. that gives new and marginalized developers a chance to develop games for the Playdate. Here is a list of the games and developers for season one:

Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure: uvula (Keita Takahashi, Ryan Mohler), Matthew Grimm and Shaun Inman

Battleship Godios: TPM.CO Soft Works

Boogie Loops: May-Li Khoe and Andy Matuschak

Casual Birder: Diego Garcia with music by Max Coburn

DemonQuest 85: Alex Ashby, Lawrence Bishop, Duncan Fyfe, Belinda Leung and Jared Emerson-Johnson

Echoic Memory: Samantha Kalman, Everest Pipkin, Carol Mertz and Rachelle Viola

Executive Golf DX: davemakes

Flipper Lifter: Serenity Forge

Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke: Nels Anderson and Christina “castpixel” Neofotistou