Playdate New Handheld Gaming Device Announced, and It Has an Actual Crank

playdate new handheld

Who wants another gaming device in their lives? While we already have the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile devices to play games on, it seems developer Panic is moving up from just making apps and games to now making a new handheld gaming device called “Playdate.”

While you can read up on the details on the official site announcement, we’ve listed down the important stuff below for an easy read.

playdate new handheld

  • Price is at $149
  • 2.7″ Black and white screen and there’s no backlight (no joke!)
  • It uses a traditional directional pad and two buttons (A, B) with a crank on the site
  • Games are a “secret” for now, though Panic mentions some will be short, some will be long, some will be experimental, and others will be traditional (take from that what you will)
  • 12 games included in “Season One” for “free”
  • Ships in early 2020

There you have it. Will it attract gamers? Not to be a downer, but with no backlight, and the device looking rather unwieldly due to its size and shape, I don’t see this catching on anytime soon. But hey, stranger things have happened.

Will you be picking a Playdate up when it launches next year?

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