While most companies are being forced to push back releases and development due to COVID-19, Panic has publicly announced how development is proceeding despite everything going on. Development of the Playdate handheld gaming system is still early on, but the team at Panic has been gaining momentum fast. In a recent tweet on the Playdate account, Panic announced what measures they will be taking to ensure the safety of their employees and the current status of their production.
Quick update. The Playdate team is now all working from home, but we’re still getting a lot done. Right now we’re working with our Season One game teams to finalize and QA test their games, preparing for our developer preview (soon!), adding new features to our OS, and more.
— Playdate (@playdate) March 19, 2020
Our factory in Malaysia has shut down — for at least a few weeks. But it’s for the greater good. And it won’t impact the developer preview, as those units, a few hundred, are already built and ready to be shipped to those randomly chosen to receive them, once that page goes live.
— Playdate (@playdate) March 19, 2020
The Playdate is a brand new handheld gaming system from the publishers of Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game. Panic, the company behind Playdate, is working with a number of developers to produce 12 new games that will be released one per week after the eventual retail release of the system. For more on just what the Playdate is, head over to Panic’s blog.
Like most companies, the Playdate team has moved to working from home, where they will continue to work on some of the final pieces for the developer preview units being shipped out. The 12 games that are a part of Season One of the Playdate rollout are still being finalized and quality tested. Final tweaks and additional features to the Playdate OS are also being worked on from home.
While the Malaysian factory has been shut down, the developer preview units were already complete and ready to be shipped for those lucky enough to have been randomly chosen. Panic has not yet touched on how the factory shutting down will impact the future of the Playdate development and distribution.
We’ll do everything we can to bring you a little bit of joy in 2020. And we’ll keep you posted every step of the way.
Most importantly: we hope you’re doing ok. If you have any questions, or just want to chat, we’re here!— Playdate (@playdate) March 19, 2020
We can only hope that the Playdate development goes ahead smoothly and safely.
