£316k worth of Playdate consoles missing in Las Vegas

Panic has revealed that two crates of Playdate consoles have gone missing in Las Vegas and no one knows where they are.

• READ MORE: Playdate review: a handheld hero for indie makers

Speaking at the Game Developers Conference over the weekend (and reported by Gamefile), Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser spoke about the trials and tribulations that come with launching a handheld game console that’s powered by a crank.

Since it was launched in 2022, Panic have sold over 70,000 Playdate consoles but a fair few have gone missing in recent weeks.

“We checked up on our inventory levels and it was a little bit short,” Sasser said, who then contacted the shipping centre. They apparently called 2000 missing consoles, worth £316k, a “weird” occurrence. “FedEx said they were delivered, but we have no trace of them,” continued the shipping centre before revealing that two weeks after two pallets of Playdates disappeared, another two were delivered to a construction site next door.

“The person that signed for the two pallets that they recovered was the same person that signed for the two pallets that [they] have yet to recover,” Sasser continued, “so there’s a lot of research happening right now.”

Luckily Panic know the serial numbers for every missing console and seven have already been registered to addresses in Las Vegas. “It’s a bit of a true crime drama,” said Sasser.

He went on to promise he’d keep people updated on the investigation. “or legally not keep you posted—depending on where this goes.”

In a four-star review of the console, NME wrote: “Constructed well and full of exciting games from smart independent creators, Panic’s console is a wonderful ode to free-spirited creativity, warts and all. Some of its parts and some of its games could have been better realised, but here’s a console that feels like an exciting movement rather than a cash grab.”

In other news, NetEase and Marvel Games have announced Marvel Rivals, a team-based shooter featuring a “deep roster” of heroes and villains.