$150 dollars is very expensive for a portable game system, which will compete with any tablet/phone that can play games that have better graphics and game play.
The problem is that this is competing with entire ecosystems of games that have been around for almost a decade.
This is more of a play on nostalgia and classic bulky simple handhelds. It would be in the same category as the NES Classic Edition or the Sega Genesis Mini. It's fun and almost a collectible honestly.
The NES class edition and Sega Genesis only work because of people that remember playing these games as a kid (like me). I have the NES classic edition and my teenage nephews were bored pretty quickly after they played it.
Nostalgia isn't usually there for something new that looks like the games I used to play when I was younger.
By referring to it as a collectible, I also meant that this will most likely not going to be a huge success, but more of a niche product. I see it as an indie hardware; the Cuphead of Gaming Systems if you will.
While I’m sure they will sell some devices and they will likely become a collectors item in the future; I can’t see them selling enough to make this worthwhile nor keep people playing on it long enough to be considered anything more than an expensive yet short-lived novelty item.
Hopefully I’m wrong, but as a collector of games consoles - including many of those that failed - I’m not filled with any confidence about the Playdate.
What do you think Panic means by successful?
From the PlayDate's site:
> Stock will be very limited. Sign up early.
It doesn't sound like they're trying to take over the gaming industry here.
1. Have any longevity beyond a novelty. By that I don’t mean hundreds of hours clocked up; I just mean people will use it for more than a couple of hours before putting it in a draw to never be seen again.
2. Make a profit. Obviously including all the time spent in design et al as well.
Personally I can see this both being unsuccessful in terms engagement as well as financially unsuccessful.
1] are infested with IAP/psycho crack time gates
2] cant cost more than a dollar or so, no one will buy them
3] have no buttons, and the number of games that work well without buttons is few.
4] have a horrible reputation, people discount games just for being mobile
5] ridiculously fragmented hardware, who knows what screen size or device type you're targeting if you develop for mobile?
6] are too high res. All new game systems are. Low res games with few buttons can be developed cheaply and quickly (i.e., 20k instead of 5M)
I want some simple games with real buttons. I want to make some. I'll pay for it. I think others will too.
I do think $150 is a little high, but that might also convey a sense of value, rather than "another crappy emulator box thing"
Both price points are in about the same range of disposable income for the target audience.
But $50 is a cheapo, side thing... as junky as the maker felt they could get away with. Not necessarily bad (Personally, I really appreciate things that are made as cheap as someone felt they could get away with, especially games. The cheapo-ness tells an interesting story and sometimes these things absolutely amaze me.) but usually pretty bad.
$150 is a centerpiece. It's a product that delivers at some decent level of quality/aesthetics. From the website I think they nailed that. (It looks like the handheld console you've made out of Lego and then imagined the details of what the real thing that the Lego model represents.)
So the $50 portable game is maybe too crappy to be a centerpiece gift (to another or to yourself), but maybe too expensive to fit in as a second-tier gift (e.g., a Christmas stocking-stuffer).
While this might qualify as "the gift of the year". (Or purchase for self of the year.)
The experience on the cheap device will probably be inferior in virtually every way to the phone you already have in your pocket.
But this device is different. Your phone doesn't have a crank. (Nor does whatever handheld system you may already have). It doesn't look like Lego. It doesn't have a black-and-white screen and it doesn't have a new, unique game coming out every week. (well your phone has seemingly a million games coming out each week, but in a diffuse, general way where you have to discover them for yourself and figure out for yourself if the IAP are too annoying or not, etc.)
Games are about new and fresh experiences so anything you already own and have been playing for 10 years is at a serious disadvantage, despite that it's cheaper to keep using it because you already own it.