Panic hits pause on the Playdate Stereo Dock, says it’s unlikely we’ll see it anytime soon

The long-promised Playdate Stereo Dock is officially dead, at least for now. After many months with the desktop accessory stuck in development limbo, Panic has updated the product page so it no longer says it’s “coming soon,” but instead that it’s been put on pause indefinitely due to issues with the Bluetooth experience, the factory that handled it and the rising costs of resolving it all. The Stereo Dock, first announced in 2021, was meant to be a charging dock that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker (and pen holder), along with being a cute way to display your Playdate when it’s not in use. But, things didn’t quite work out as planned.

The Playdate team said it hit some unexpected hurdles in trying to bring the idea to life, and found that “making the Stereo Dock was almost more challenging than making the Playdate itself.” The statement explains:

It goes on to say that the team worked to improve the experience, even buying the Bluetooth chipset source code in hopes to fix the issues, to no avail. While there are “a number of beautiful finished prototypes,” Panic says “they weren’t very good to use.” The official update was foreshadowed in a social media exchange shared on Reddit earlier this month in which Panic’s Cabel Sasser, replying to a question about the Stereo Dock’s status, said it “turned out to be incredibly hard for lots of incredibly dumb reasons” and was put on pause.

The team says it’s now turning its focus wholly back to the continuing production of the Playdate. There may still be a chance that we see the Stereo Dock at some point down the line, but don’t hold your breath. “Will it arrive someday? We still hope so,” Panic said. “Will it arrive anytime soon? Unlikely.”