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> The thing is that no one is buying a Playdate without being aware of what they're getting. Nonsense, no one knows anything about future subscriptions aka "wh

> The thing is that no one is buying a Playdate without being aware of what they're getting. Nonsense, no one knows anything about future subscriptions aka "what they are getting". How can consumers be fully informed when nothing is announced? The PlayDate will have an astronomically small install base. Amortizing a dozen game's developments over such a small install base without subsidy from Panic will surely lead to sticker shock. There are 21 titles in the first season. At a mere 50K USD per title (small even for indie dev budgets) that is 1,050K USD to develop the season. With 20K sold play dates that's a per device cost of 50$, or about 100$ for a year of releases. Can the playdate justify a 8$ per month subscription? Yeah I think so, but only because it is a pure novelty. Except novelties have a habit of being low commitement. If only 25% of units re-sub that puts your per sub development costs at 400$ a year. Are Playdate owners going to be happy to pay 2x the cost of the device for a single year of games? Obviously not. The playdate needs to move more units or it will die, I don't think current buyers understand this risk at _all_.

hug 5y ago
No one knows anything about the financials of the thing but you do know what you're getting: A unique little handheld, with 21 unique-to-the-platform indie games, at known price point, and a promise that they're gonna try to put out seasons of games. What you might get thereafter being entirely unknown (other than it being a device-bespoke set of games for some price) is exciting. Maybe the subscription will be too pricey to stomach. Maybe they'll go tits up. Maybe it'll be a complete commercial flop. Maybe, on the other hand, they've already sold 100,000 devices and manage an attach rate of 65% at $5 a month and they make that million a quarter to fund games. Maybe it's $20 a 3 month season and they've got even more in their pocket. Who knows, but I'm still excited.
- Danieru 5y ago
  Yeah okay you've convinced me, the play date is pretty cool. Its working against the odds but I love the quirky and open platform aspects.

hug 5y ago

No one knows anything about the financials of the thing but you do know what you're getting: A unique little handheld, with 21 unique-to-the-platform indie games, at known price point, and a promise that they're gonna try to put out seasons of games. What you might get thereafter being entirely unknown (other than it being a device-bespoke set of games for some price) is exciting. Maybe the subscription will be too pricey to stomach. Maybe they'll go tits up. Maybe it'll be a complete commercial flop. Maybe, on the other hand, they've already sold 100,000 devices and manage an attach rate of 65% at $5 a month and they make that million a quarter to fund games. Maybe it's $20 a 3 month season and they've got even more in their pocket. Who knows, but I'm still excited.

Danieru 5y ago
Yeah okay you've convinced me, the play date is pretty cool. Its working against the odds but I love the quirky and open platform aspects.