Last March, Panic launched a curated game store called Catalog for his Playdate handheld. And a year later, the company claims to have sold more than 150,000 games through the store. “We want to let everyone who loves games know that there is a vibrant community of game developers creating hundreds of inventive and thoughtful games for Playdate,” said Arisa Sudangnoi, Head of Developer Relations at Playdate, in a press release. The news comes exactly two years later the handheld was launched for the first time.
At the beginning of 2024, Panic revealed it had sold 70,000 Playdate units, and it is now reported that more than half of these users – 38,000 – have purchased a game through Catalog. For context, the Playdate launched with a “season” of 24 games from notable developers included in the purchase price. Panic says that “around 32,000 of the users who haven’t purchased a game are still working on the games included in Playdate Season One.” Some more numbers: There are currently 181 titles in the store, and so far sales have brought in just over $544,000 (“after taxes, handling fees and Panic’s 25% revenue share for the catalog distribution,” indicates the company).
Last February, Greg Maletic, head of special projects at Panic, described sales figures for Playdate games as “not enough to make a career out of,” adding, “I think it’s a decent amount for a pass time, and that’s how many developers saw it as a sort of fun hobby that, in some cases, reignited enthusiasm for writing games.
Some of the most notable recent Playdate titles include March after midnight Since Papers please developer Lucas Pope, launched in March.
