Despite the high demand, manufacturing and delivery issues have caused problems for Panic. A “critical” battery issue with the first batch of consoles forced the company to switch suppliers, resulting in delays from late 2021 to 2022. Parts shortages also slowed down deliveries, and manufacturing costs resulted in a price increase of $20 to $199 earlier this month. Panic has shipped more than 27,000 Playdates to date, and it aims to fulfill all preorders by the end of 2023. After that, it hopes to make the Playdate available on an ad-hoc basis and to ship the Playdate Stereo Dock.
