Hey everyone,

Just wanted to send a quick update on how things are going behind the scenes.

On the production side: the Batch 2 backlog is mostly cleared, and we are finally back on schedule. Chris and I have split up production duties, which has doubled our output, and things are moving along a lot faster. If your shipping estimate was for the end of the month, you should see a shipping email in the next 2–3 weeks.

Now for a little good news/bad news on Batch 3 (the April batch):
We ran into some supply chain issues… some parts providers backed out, and we had to swap a few components. On the bright side, we upgraded the flex latch to a sturdier version, so it should be a lot harder to accidentally snap the plastic clip now.

Production on Batch 3 started last week, and we are ramping up fast. We’ve gone from 1–2 people packing and boxing to 4–5 people to keep up with demand. That said, due to the earlier delays, we are pushing the April batch shipping estimate to a conservative mid-summer timeline. Everyone with an April estimate will be updated to August.

Software Updates

Last week, we rolled out the v1.4.2 firmware update, which includes a handful of stability improvements, mostly around booting games. If you’re getting a Batch 2 unit, make sure to update from v1.4.0 to v1.4.2 right away. It’s especially important if you’re trying to boot games from different regions.

The last update was all stability changes, but we have more exciting things on the way. At the end of this month, we’ll finally add FTP support—it’s been done for a while, but we wanted to polish up the Desktop App before releasing it. Then in April, we are aiming to roll out a bigger update that brings simultaneous Bluetooth + Ethernet support (finally!). That one will also include Discord presence which requires the Desktop App to push current game updates to your friends online.

Spare Parts Coming Soon

Lastly, we will be ramping up our online store with spare parts and extra gadgets in the next 1-2 months. Currently, we only have spare flex PCBs listed, but over the next month or two, we will be adding more parts like a MicroSD card extender and the new injection-molded backplates (these have a proper MicroSD slot). The Deluxe kit already includes this backplate but we wanted to list it for folks who want to use it in combination with the extender to get easier card access.

That’s all for now! We appreciate everyone’s patience and support as we keep working.