PANIC’S PLAYDATE GAME STORE CELEBRATES 3 YEARS IN BUSINESS WITH A SALE AND THE NEWS THAT THE STORE HAS GENERATED $1,399,393 IN FUNDS TO PLAYDATE DEVELOPERS! 

PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 26, 2026  - Panic’s Playdate team is excited to announce the next Playdate Catalog sale, celebrating the 3-year anniversary of the launch of the on-device and web browser Playdate game store opening, will begin on March 5, 2026 at 10am PT and last two weeks until March 19, 2026 at 10am PT. Notable and recent titles such as the entirety of Playdate Season 2, Diora, Outside Parties, The Shape That Waits and Echo Drop! will be on sale for their lowest price to date. 

While hard to imagine now, when Playdate began shipping in April 18, 2022, a dedicated on-device games store was not available until March 7, 2023. Back then, the store launched with 11 titles, now, there are 423 titles available on Playdate Catalog.

Panic also provided an update on Catalog lifetime stats, revealing that over 400,000 games have been sold on the store thus far and, as a result, developers have received $1,399,393 in funds after taxes, processing fees, and Panic’s 25% revenue share for distribution on Catalog.

What is the Playdate if not the stats-loving spirit of a baseball nerd inside of a crank-powered handheld? Here’s some stats for you, up to date as of February 24, 2026:

• Top Regions for purchases on Catalog are the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Australia, in no particular order.
• The average Playdate game price on Catalog is $5.94. Playdate game prices are up to the developer.
• The average discount during the upcoming Playdate sale will be 39.1%. If popular mathematical theory is to be believed, and five bucks is basically free, a lot of these games will be under that magic number.
• As of this writing, a grand total of 409,003 game purchases have been made for Playdate via Catalog.

About Playdate

Playdate is a unique handheld gaming system. 

It’s yellow. It fits in your pocket. It includes amazing games from some of the most famous game developers around. And some first-time developers, too.  It has a beautiful black and white screen, and yes: it has a crank.

Created with great attention to detail and affection by app developer and video game publisher Panic, Playdate hopes to capture the spirit of endless possibility and excitement that games have given us since the beginning. Playdate’s collection of games will delight players with their inventiveness and ingenuity. In addition to introducing players to brand new experiences, Playdate also encourages people to create their own imaginative games and interactive software using a suite of easy development tools. In short, Playdate was made just for fun.

Find Playdate on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/play.date, and on their website at play.date
 

Founded in 1999, Panic is an ancient startup in Portland, Oregon that loves to make nice things and bring people everyday joy. Originally — and still — a Mac app developer, Panic has also become a highly-focused video game publisher that helped release games like Thank Goodness You’re Here! and Untitled Goose Game into the world, with more on the horizon, including Big Walk. And in the ultimate spirit of creating products that bring joy, Panic created its very own handheld video game system: Playdate.

Visit their website: https://panic.com/