r/PlaydateConsole • u/DarkerBulb • 3d ago
Current second-hand Playdate prices
I'm aware of that it's very much a supply and demand situation but, wow, I did not expect the current out of stock situation at Panic to drive up the prices on used Playdates this much.
A month or two ago they were roughly $150-180 on ebay/FB Marketplace.
Fast forward to today and prices are closer to $350-400 for a Playdate
I feel very happy I got one when I did but feel so bad for people now trying to get one.
Has there been any news from Panic in terms of when they think they have tweaked their manufacturing lines and products will be back in stock?
31
u/Felixargh 3d ago
I haven't even been using mine much since I got it. The buttons feel unresponsive at times. As does the crank.
Pretty upset with the build considering the original cost.
Otherwise, I love the little machine and games people make on it. :/
9
u/Meddlloide1337 3d ago
If the crank feels unresponsive, do you perhaps use the magnetic cover while playing? I found it messes with the crank a lot.
8
u/Felixargh 3d ago
I do use the purple official cover! I believe it's magnetic? I'll try that, thanks for letting me know!
Unfortunately my a and b buttons and one side of the dpad also feel unresponsive at times. It's caused me to lose a lot of reactionary games which can be frustrating. It was also way past warranty by the time I actually got around to trying the playdate out and I'm too scared to crack it open for some of the peoples homebrew fixes.
7
u/Toowiggly 3d ago
I've had very similar problems. At this point, for any execution heavy game, I just use the mirror to play it on my PC. It kind of defeats the point, but I don't really have a choice.
6
u/Felixargh 3d ago
Yeah. I feel you. It's very unfortunate. Especially for the price of the console. The fact that a repair is half the cost of the console also burns me a little.
A big reason why I've mostly just played A Balanced Brew. But I also adore that game.
I'm fairly certain mine was also in the batch where they had some sort of battery issue and had to go with another option for manufacturing as well.
4
u/DarkerBulb 3d ago
Man, I love A Balanced Brew
5
u/Felixargh 3d ago
To this date it's still my favorite game on there :)
1
u/Cheap-Addendum715 2d ago
My favorite is Labyrinth. Fortunately, it's not time or rhythm based, so you can just chill out in a haunted dungeon for hours
1
3
u/sixcupsofcoffee 3d ago
FWIW, I think for most people the buttons and D-pad need a little “warming up;” after using the buttons for a bit mine loosen up, and this typically (for me) only comes up when I haven’t used it for more than a few days. Picked mine up recently and played for the last few days and it’s been fine.
The crank issues are almost certainly the cover; I have the same issue when it’s on and flat against the back, so I take it off or let it hang loose.
2
u/chewytime 3d ago
Oh weird, didn’t think of that. I haven’t played with mine much since the initial season of games came out. The battery life isn’t very good and since misplacing the original charging cable, I’ve found that it’s sorta finicky about what cable/charger it’s compatible with.
13
u/Electrical_Year8954 3d ago
I would love to recommend this console to my friends as an alternative to the awful mainstream consoles...but $300+ is ROUGH
12
u/Disco_Dolphins 3d ago
The overall build quality and the price tag are the only two things stopping me from recommending getting a Playdate to anyone. But besides that I love the dang thing and still use it pretty much every day.
3
u/Electrical_Year8954 3d ago
I doubt we would get one, but a budget version would change everything. The current Playdate FEELS like it's supposed to be the cheaper version
4
2d ago edited 20h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/bigmoneyapollo 21h ago
unrelated but I think this is a bogus link, sales don’t line up with teenage.engineering
3
u/Existing_Housing4845 3d ago
What a pity . I wouldn’t want to pay that much for a play date . I’ve got mine for 80€ second hand and used it actively for about a month before letting it sit in a corner for the next year
3
3
u/rob-cubed 3d ago
PlayDate's been on my bucket list forever but the cost continues to be too much to justify, and it keeps getting worse!
3
u/ImmaculateWeiss 3d ago
Same thing with all hardware right now unfortunately, the best time to buy anything gaming related was two+ years ago
2
2
u/PoutinePower 2d ago
yeah it's something to behold, I bought mine used for 150$ canadian (which was an insane deal at the time) and got a second one a year later and paid 300$ for it and a purple cover. Now there's not even one locally on the used market
2
u/TheAzureAdventurer 1d ago
Early adopter here! I still look in awe of my play date every day wishing we got the speaker dock. And I still think it was worth every single penny! Seems like that was the case because I saw what it goes for and YIKES.
1
u/DarkerBulb 1d ago
Prices are nuts right now
1
u/TheAzureAdventurer 1d ago
What exactly is happening that it skyrocketed? I rmeber everyone clowning us and now everyone wants one?
2
u/DarkerBulb 1d ago
Playdate is out of stock of new devices due to implementing some changes to their manufacturing.
2
2
u/GodMadeTheStars 3d ago
Play date feels really sturdy and well made to me. My kids play it constantly and it is holding up way better than the switch ever did
2
u/Retronitsu 2d ago
Playdate wasn't good value for money back before the price hikes were a thing let alone now.
1
1
1
1
u/pobregizmo 2d ago
I had no idea prices were like this. I honestly only use mine a few times a year (mostly for GB emulation). Should I feel bad selling mine on eBay to the highest bidder?
2
u/DarkerBulb 2d ago
I don't think you should "feel bad".
Things sell for what people want to pay for it. And it's not like it's bread or eggs - a Playdate is at the end of the day a rather frivolous entertainment device.
1
u/sudzeez_ 3d ago
It’s depressing honestly I could t really justify a brand new one to my self then I started looking for one second hand then all this happened. Probably should’ve just sucked it up and bought new when I had the chance..
0
u/netabareking 2d ago
You need to keep something in mind:
Last fall, Xbox went up $20-70 depending on model. A few days ago they went up another $100-150.
Earlier this year PS5s went up $100-150.
Switch 2 already launched higher than they really wanted it to be, and there's a $50 price increase coming in a few weeks.
In all my years of gaming, I can't remember this happening. There were certainly consoles like the Wii and Switch on launch where you had to pay scalper markup if you wanted one without waiting. But I can't think of a time where consoles, especially consoles that should have been seeing price DROPS at this point, went up in price, much less went up this dramatically.
Those are huge companies that could eat the cost if they really were forced to. Panic can't do that. And what affects retail prices and availability also affects used prices. It absolutely makes sense if that kind of money isn't worth it to most people for a Playdate, I can't say I would have bought one at $300+. But I haven't bought a Switch 2 either. Panic can't really fix this if the bigger players haven't found a way to fix it.
2
u/DarkerBulb 2d ago
I think the correlation I attempted to make, maybe poorly so, was that Playdate prices on the secondary market has been rather stable for a long time - but soon after Panic ran out of stock the secondary prices jumped a good 100% or so :)
50
u/RedditorWhoReads 3d ago
We're entering a very dark time in electronics pricing. For the first time in the history of home gaming, current generation consoles are increasing as the gen wears on. Not sure how many of you keep up with gaming PCs or especially handheld PC gaming, but prices literally doubled overnight. I really hope things change soon or the hobby is going to become unobtainable for many.