SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Playdate has been one of the weirder/more unexpected successes of the last few years. Despite major inventory issues at launch, the monochrome, crank-based micro-handheld has been outselling expectations and attracting devs.
Some of you may recall that the initial concept for Playdate was that it would release new games you once a week in a "Season" of content that begins when you first power up your Playdate. Games download in the background and you see an LED light up to let you know new games are available. The initial season had a lot of high quality games from notable indie developers like Bennet Diddy and Keita Takahashi, and was included as part of the (rather steep) price of the console.
While the system always supported sideloading additional games, it didn't have an actual on-device marketplace for games until last year. But since then, it has amassed over 200 games on Catalog, most for $5 or less.
So many users have been wondering, with the success of the Catalog storefront, if there would ever be a return to the Season format. Panic has been completely silent on the matter until yesterday when it was announced that yes, there will be a Season 2.
Details are scant, but so far we know "about a dozen games" (Season 1 was expanded from 12 to 24 games so this will be smaller), a 2025 release, and some kind of surprise.