Wasn’t I just complaining about a game a couple of days ago? Well, yes, but that was on the Multi-function Display of a pickup truck. The Playdate, on the other hand, seems to actually be a novel thing which is just bizarre enough to get a following.
It’s extremely easy to be skeptical these days. I would like to do a deep-dive on the mind of the person that thinks that people won’t lie to ensure a win in court or that kids are innocent and completely honest beyond the age of seven. In such a world hearing that a Portland company best known for pure software development has decided to make a portable gaming console.
That is, a portable gaming console on the age where your portable gaming console can make phone calls and is possibly more powerful than the computer you use at work. Where the only reason that Nintendo can still sell consoles is brand recognition and that their flagship is a very unusual hybrid. And it’s going to do this with a screen that can display a single color (black is a color), at a price of $180, and the games will be released directly to the console in periodic intervals. Oh, and its gimmick is that it includes a crank, which can be an integral part of interacting with the game.
It was never going to work.
And yet, the mainstream gaming press seems to be entirely besotted by the little orange cube. They like its indie approach, they like the fact that there’s nothing else like it on the market, they like the games and how they get to use a crank. I presume none of them has had the experience of using a dynamo- powered flashlight or radio. Granted this is the same press that would give EA titles wide passes until we all finally decided upon them as the punchline they are.
But I can see why it would be so successful. Gamers crave originality. At least, the ones that would drop $180 for something like this would. In such a market it’s important to be honest, make a device that will appeal to a very specific demographic and accept that that is the opposite of broad appeal, and crucially, be okay with creating a love it or hate it device that won’t have mass demographic appeal.
If you focus group your product and you end up with an average score of 5/10, check if the results were 4–6 or 1–3 and 8–10. If it’s the former, you have failed from the start. I’m not saying that you have to go back to the drawing board, but at the very least you should consider that you may be losing a prodigious amount of money. Meanwhile, if it’s a latter, put it into production. A lot of people will hate it, but the ones that won’t will be fiercely loyal about it and happily evangelize your product. This, I think, is where the playdate is. And presumably where it will remain unless the upcoming games are atrocious or Panic cheapened out on the build and the things will begin dying in about six months or so.
