Enlarge / Is the Playdate the most adorable portable console out there? You gotta believe! (credit: Sam Machkovech)
Last April, we enthused that the tiny, yellow Playdate portable game console "earns its $179 price tag" with a unique design and a lineup of free, inventive crank-powered games. Unfortunately, those interested in joining the ranks of 25,000 current Playdate owners will soon have to shell out $20 more to get their hands on this adorable handheld.
The increase to a $199 price is coming "because our factory recently gave us the inevitable news that in 2023, the price of building a single Playdate is going up," Panic (Untitled Goose Game) CEO Cabel Sasser said in a Playdate update stream Tuesday. "Our margins are already surprisingly slim, so although we've absorbed a lot of weird price increases on this weird journey, this is the one we couldn't avoid, and we're truly sorry."
For those who want to avoid the roughly 11 percent price hike, Panic is giving interested customers until April 7 to purchase a Playdate at the current $179 price. Customers still waiting on their preorders (which should all be fulfilled in "early 2023," Panic now says) will not have to pay the higher price.
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source https://arstechnica.com/?p=1922369