Playdate, A Malaysian-Made Handheld Console, Is Now Available In Malaysia & 21 Additional Countries

The Playdate is a handheld console made by manufacturer Panic which has a limited-time gimmick; every week, it features two new games from a particular Season (filled with 24 games) onto the user console, though you don’t know when these games will appear on your Playdate until the week they were released. A novel concept, and one that’s arguably worth US$179 if you love retro-esque game devices with a mechanical crank and black-and-white screen.

What’s unique about the Playdate is that the handheld is manufactured in Sungai Petani, Kedah in Malaysia. One would think that the device would be sold right off the bat in Malaysia on its launch date of April 2022, but it wasn’t due to tax reasons. Well, that has changed as Playdate has announced 22 additional countries it will ship the console to:

• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Estonia
• Greece
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• South Korea
• Sweden
• Switzerland

That’s right: Southeast Asians in Malaysia and Singapore will finally get their hands on the Playdate and its 24 games (per Season) that will rotate 2 games every week for a different gaming experience. The Playdate will cost you US$199 (RM948) without shipping and taxes. With those additions (US$24.40 and US$25.74), the total damage for getting your own retro-esque gaming device is US$249.14 (RM1,192.13) and will take you 6 to 8 business days to ship.