Photo: Courtesy of Analogue
In a matter of minutes during August 2020, Analogue’s full order capacity for their new Analogue Pocket system was filled. The Analogue Pocket is a high-definition Gameboy, Gameboy Color & Advance, Neogeo Pocket, Sega Gamegear, and Atari Lynx all-in-one system. The slick handheld looks like the original gameboy, but stylish. The absolutely stunning screen is bound to make the handheld the unparalleled king of classic portable gaming. An announcement from Analogue Thursday, however, says that the original shipping date of May 2021 has now been pushed back to October 2021 for some unexpected, but understandable supply-line issues.
“The current global state of affairs continues to create supply chain challenges outside of our control,” said the Analogue Team in a blog post Thursday. “There have been sudden and severe electrical component shortages as well as logistical issues leading to a domino effect of challenges for nearly everyone in the industry.”
In the post, the team links to a Bloomberg article explaining the industry-wide semiconductor shortage that has slowed production across the planet. The second link, however, citing logistical issues, mentions the recent Suez Canal block causes by a massive freighter blocking the path.
Estimates put the losses due to the canal block in the high billions. Just about any product you can imagine was held up in some capacity at the Suez Canal, so it is more than believable that some components going into the Analogue Pocket had an unceremonious run in with the twisted Ever Given freighter.
“We’re working hard to get Pocket out as fast as possible and we appreciate your understanding and patience,” the company said. The idea of a small to medium-sized company like Analogue making a video game console at all was inconceivable before the past decade. The fact that the games industry can support smaller players like Analogue in a market dominated by money-grubbing oligarchic kingpins is cause for celebration in itself. Take your time, Analogue.
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