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I feel as though many people here are trying to rationalize something that isn’t rational. Consumers aren’t rational and pricing without data isn’t a science.

I feel as though many people here are trying to rationalize something that isn’t rational. Consumers aren’t rational and pricing without data isn’t a science. It’s really that simple. I doubt Panic did very much research into how much similar hardware sells for. They probably anchored the number around the amount of money they spent on engineering the thing and the expected number of units they’d be able to sell. Not to mention, 20000 x 179 (minus costs and taxes) isn’t a lot for a 10 person company. Decent chance they are in the negative if you include opportunity cost.

bodge5000 5y ago
To be honest, my little conspiracy theory (almost certainly wrong, yours is calculated whereas mine is probably based on a little bit of past frustration) is that the main driving force behind the high price is Teenage Engineering. I own a lot of their devices, and actually the more I think about it, the more I can see where they fit. TE devices are generally very expensive for what you get, and often not great build quality (the playdate seems better, but thats not a purely TE project), but the fact is, you can't get what they make anywhere else. I hate the double trigs on my OP-Z, but there is no alternative.
- CyberRabbi 5y ago
  Yes that’s a good point. If you factor in the cost of contracting TE in for this project they are definitely close to breaking even if not negative. Given that, my perspective is that I’m grateful something cool and different is being made in a field that’s dominated by large established players who operate with much larger budgets. Monocultures aren’t inherently bad but it’s been a bit too long since a new serious player entered this space.
  - bodge5000 5y ago
    Oh absolutely, I did preorder one afterall, despite the price ;) The fantasy console handheld is something thats been much talked about and this seems like by far the most fleshed out version of that. I have a feeling a lot of people in this thread are thinking that all games are for the exact same audience, and thats the reason for some of the confusion and to some extent outrage.

bodge5000 5y ago

To be honest, my little conspiracy theory (almost certainly wrong, yours is calculated whereas mine is probably based on a little bit of past frustration) is that the main driving force behind the high price is Teenage Engineering. I own a lot of their devices, and actually the more I think about it, the more I can see where they fit. TE devices are generally very expensive for what you get, and often not great build quality (the playdate seems better, but thats not a purely TE project), but the fact is, you can't get what they make anywhere else. I hate the double trigs on my OP-Z, but there is no alternative.

CyberRabbi 5y ago
Yes that’s a good point. If you factor in the cost of contracting TE in for this project they are definitely close to breaking even if not negative. Given that, my perspective is that I’m grateful something cool and different is being made in a field that’s dominated by large established players who operate with much larger budgets. Monocultures aren’t inherently bad but it’s been a bit too long since a new serious player entered this space.
- bodge5000 5y ago
  Oh absolutely, I did preorder one afterall, despite the price ;) The fantasy console handheld is something thats been much talked about and this seems like by far the most fleshed out version of that. I have a feeling a lot of people in this thread are thinking that all games are for the exact same audience, and thats the reason for some of the confusion and to some extent outrage.