Crank-Equipped Handheld Announced By Firewatch Publisher Panic

In an abrupt announcement from app developer Panic, the company has revealed that a new handheld will be entering the market early next year which also has an interesting characteristic: the device has a crank connected to it. Unsure of who Panic is, the company is most known for publishing titles like Campo Santo’s Firewatch and more recently with Untitled Goose Game.

Detailed from the sudden announcement, Panic shares that the upcoming and very yellow ‘Playdate’ has been in development for four years and plans to have it up for sale later in 2019. With help from Teenage Engineering to craft a more appealing look for the handheld after this initial side project evolved more into a full ambition, which was how the crank was introduced.

Panic clarifying that the cranks purpose rather than being an alternate source to power the handheld is intended to be an additional feature over the facing D-pad and buttons. Explaining that some of the games that will be coming exclusively to the game will require the use of the crank, but not all titles will.

The developer has reached out to different faces to create games for the Playdate such as Katamari Damacy’s Keita Takahashi and QWOP creator Bennet Foddy.

Titles that are coming to the Playdate are said to release with one each week following the handheld’s debut in early 2020. Each shipment of games are categorized into seasons, implying that more games are on the way after the initial twelve have been released.

For those interested in the crank-controlled handheld can sign-up for the waiting list on Panic’s site here. Since the announcement first broke the airwaves, within 24 hours over 70,000 people have registered for the mailing list and grabbed attention from more developers to create titles for the upcoming device.

The Playdate is said to ship sometime at the start of 2020 and can be pre-ordered later this year at $149.99. More detail on the handheld is said to be revealed in the coming future.