PORTLAND, APRIL 16, 2026 – To commemorate the 4-year anniversary of the launch of their fun loving yellow handheld, Playdate, Panic is happy to officially announce that Playdate Season Three is in development and will launch in late 2026! More details to come later in the year.
”Playdate fans and developers are some of the kindest, most enthusiastic people I have ever met, and it makes me and everyone here at Panic happy to see Playdate bring people so much joy,” says Head of Special Projects and Playdate at Panic, Greg Maletic, in a video released today announcing the news.
NEW – Playdate Season 3 Announcement + Playdate for Education
Playdate Seasons are a curated collection of surprise games, developed specifically for the handheld, that release weekly onto the Playdates’ of Season purchasers across the globe at the same time upon the start of the Season rollout. This idea, a bundle of mysterious games that trickle out during a period of time that everyone gets to experience together, is one that was present in the early days of Playdate’s development. It’s also a model the Playdate community still embraces, with over 15,000 Playdate Season 2 purchases to date since its release on May 28, 2025.
Panic began shipping Playdate on April 18, 2022, with every Playdate customer getting access to Playdate Season One as part of their purchase — Playdate Sesaon Two was a separate paid purchase, and so will Season Three. Playdate has shipped 80,000 units since launch. Panic is currently relieved and happy that people can make amazing games for Playdate with just 16 megabytes of RAM.
Playdate for Education
today’s video also put a spotlight on Panic’s Playdate for Education program. Shortly after launch, it became apparent that Playdate’s simple yet rich development tools and hardware would make it a perfect teaching tool for programming and game design. After requests from educators, Panic launched Playdate for Education providing educators with Playdate hardware at a discounted rate.
The launch of the program has led to several institutions around the globe integrating Playdate into their curriculum, providing students with easy hands-on programming and game design experience. One such institution is North Carolina’s Duke University, who have incorporated Playdate into their Master of Engineering in Game Design, Development, and Innovation program.
“The students can design something in class and build it really quickly or over a short assignment, and then grab the Playdate and go around campus having people test their games,” says Ernesto Escobar, executive director of the GDDI program at Duke. “Because of the simplicity of the tool and because of the portability, because of the constraints, it allows for this iterative loop to be very quick.”
Read the full story about how Duke University is using Playdate here, and learn more about Playdate for Education at play.date/education.
Office Chair Curling is Out today on Playdate and Steam!
In one final bit of fun, ‘you can play a cool new video game today’ news, the Playdate community highly anticipated workplace chair throwing simulator, Office Chair Curling developed and published by osuika, is also available to purchase today for Playdate and Steam.
In this game you throw office chairs at a target to get a high score. The game supports local or online multiplayer with online cross-play between Playdate and Steam.
Features:
breathtaking realism
office chairs
8 characters
a broom to sweep the ground
Office Chair Curling
Playdate is in stock and available for purchase at play.date/shop for $229 USD.
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
About Panic Inc.
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/