15 ms·

At ~230€ (w/ tax&shipping) it's a very hard proposition, even for someone with an interest in weird devices and disposable income. A gamer that likes indie game

by Aissen 5y ago

At ~230€ (w/ tax&shipping) it's a very hard proposition, even for someone with an interest in weird devices and disposable income. A gamer that likes indie games, probably be more at home with the cheaper Switch Lite and a few games from the online store. Still, I love that we live in a world where making such an open device with 24 included games is possible. Consumer hardware at scale is quite hard and capital-intensive, so kudos to Panic on shipping. I might end up getting one at some point…

causi 5y ago
Still, I love that we live in a world where making such an open device with 24 included games is possible. If that gets you excited you should check out the Funkey S. Same open hardware and open software and included community games, but also with the ability to emulate your favorite handheld consoles.
CharlesW 5y ago
> Still, I love that we live in a world where making such an open device with 24 included games is possible. It sounds like you love the idea of it (I do too), which I think is true of a lot of failed products. I'm not saying that you should buy it or that it will fail, just that there's an interesting lesson there for creators — loving that something exists isn't enough.
archi42 5y ago
I thought similar, but then realized that a huge part of the device's value are the included games. I still feel like 230 Euro is quite on the high end, but relatively speaking, it's not as much overpriced as it first seems. E.g. assume that each game is "worth" 3 to 5 Euro on average, and you're looking at 70 to 100 Euro "worth" of games (though you probably wouldn't buy all 24 of them?). My intuition says that, for the given spec and abilities, I would not feel bad paying 60 to 80 Euro. Add 10 Euro shipping to that, plus the games, and what I'd call a fair price is already 140 to 190 Euros. (Mind that my intuition is not yet calibrated for the current supply shortage).
huhtenberg 5y ago
> it's a very hard proposition And yet they sold out 40K units in a matter of a couple of hours. So the demand is clearly there regardless of how it compares to rational alternatives.
- Aissen 5y ago
  I've worked on consumer hardware projects where this was the weekly output cadence. And there are companies out there doing more than this number of devices daily. At scale hardware production is ruthless; which is why this relative success (for a niche) is great. As I said, I'm already on the fence, and I think it's quite good news for Panic. I also found the marketing campaign had a quite good execution for something in such a niche.
- wanda 5y ago
  How many units after that? You can sell a 40K units in five minutes but if that 40K = all your potential buyers, that is a dead product. All that tells you is that 40K people knew about it, wanted it, and had the disposable income to purchase it. I bet sales slowed pretty quickly after that.
  - antiterra 5y ago
    To be fair, it was potential buyers who are buying sight unseen with an open ended delivery date. The potential retail market is likely an entirely different number.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
antiterra 5y ago
Just imagine if Sony priced PlayStation 5s based on supply and demand and no loss-leadering for game sales. It’d be around the price scalpers charged.

by Aissen 5y ago

causi 5y ago

Still, I love that we live in a world where making such an open device with 24 included games is possible. If that gets you excited you should check out the Funkey S. Same open hardware and open software and included community games, but also with the ability to emulate your favorite handheld consoles.

CharlesW 5y ago

> Still, I love that we live in a world where making such an open device with 24 included games is possible. It sounds like you love the idea of it (I do too), which I think is true of a lot of failed products. I'm not saying that you should buy it or that it will fail, just that there's an interesting lesson there for creators — loving that something exists isn't enough.

archi42 5y ago

I thought similar, but then realized that a huge part of the device's value are the included games. I still feel like 230 Euro is quite on the high end, but relatively speaking, it's not as much overpriced as it first seems. E.g. assume that each game is "worth" 3 to 5 Euro on average, and you're looking at 70 to 100 Euro "worth" of games (though you probably wouldn't buy all 24 of them?). My intuition says that, for the given spec and abilities, I would not feel bad paying 60 to 80 Euro. Add 10 Euro shipping to that, plus the games, and what I'd call a fair price is already 140 to 190 Euros. (Mind that my intuition is not yet calibrated for the current supply shortage).

huhtenberg 5y ago

> it's a very hard proposition And yet they sold out 40K units in a matter of a couple of hours. So the demand is clearly there regardless of how it compares to rational alternatives.

Aissen 5y ago
I've worked on consumer hardware projects where this was the weekly output cadence. And there are companies out there doing more than this number of devices daily. At scale hardware production is ruthless; which is why this relative success (for a niche) is great. As I said, I'm already on the fence, and I think it's quite good news for Panic. I also found the marketing campaign had a quite good execution for something in such a niche.
wanda 5y ago
How many units after that? You can sell a 40K units in five minutes but if that 40K = all your potential buyers, that is a dead product. All that tells you is that 40K people knew about it, wanted it, and had the disposable income to purchase it. I bet sales slowed pretty quickly after that.
- antiterra 5y ago
  To be fair, it was potential buyers who are buying sight unseen with an open ended delivery date. The potential retail market is likely an entirely different number.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

antiterra 5y ago

Just imagine if Sony priced PlayStation 5s based on supply and demand and no loss-leadering for game sales. It’d be around the price scalpers charged.