Firewatch publisher, Panic, has announced a games showcase set to be held on June 8, 2021. The showcase will give out details about the games coming to the developers handheld console, called Playdate.
The first ever Playdate Update will begin at 9am PT. A 15-minute digital presentation will talk about news and updates for the Playdate, along with giving us a first look at the games coming to the handheld in Season One. While there will be information about pre-orders during the showcase, Panic has highlighted that they will not go live after the showcase.
The developer also announced that the Playdate will be available for $179 USD with 24 games available in season one, as opposed to the originally announced 12. The internal storage has also been doubled from 2GB to 4GB
“We’ve all been quietly working non-stop to get all of the complex pieces of the Playdate puzzle into place, and at last we’re ready to show you what we’ve been up to,” said Panic co-founder, Cabel Sasser. “There’s a lot of amazing things being created here that will hopefully add a bit of joy to your life. And while we’re launching a price a little bit higher than we planned — largely due to the massive global shortage of electronic parts right now — we took the last year to double the number of free games included in Season One. More on that in the update.”
There aren’t many details on the games that will be released for the Playdate. However, we do know that they will be by various indie devs and will only be revealed once they are updated into the console. The release schedule for these games is based on a seasonal cycle, with one game scheduled to be released each week. However, the developer has mentioned that this cycle is subject to change based on the interest in the handheld.
The console uses a black and white screen that does not feature a backlight. Besides its size, its most unique feature is the hand crank. We haven’t seen a use case for it as of yet, but it’s exciting to see how the devs incorporate it into gameplay.