"An important and unfortunate update"

Well, here's some news you might not have been expecting. The Kickstarter for the 'Panda' GameCube controller, which instantly smashed the required goals earlier this month has been cancelled.

Although it set records in terms of the funds raised, the creator feels it would be irresponsible to continue on with the Kickstarter when it can no longer guarantee a December 2022 release anymore. As a result, it's refunding all pledges and will pursue "outside investment" to continue this project.

Thank you so, so much to everyone for your support! We have been truly blown away by the positivity we’ve received for the Panda Controller. This project has been a labor of love for almost 3 years now and this response was something we never could have anticipated. Setting records and showing people how strong our community is when unified has been truly incredible to be a part of.

We have some unfortunate news to share today. Since opening the Kickstarter, we’ve been made aware of a few factors outside of our control that, when added up, have affected our production timeline. Among other new roadblocks, our main manufacturing partner in China is being affected by ongoing rolling blackouts, slowing their production which was already affected by COVID-related shortages. We know how excited you all are to get the Panda Controller as soon as possible, but it looks like we can’t guarantee the December 2022 date anymore and we don’t know what the new date will be yet.

So, with the Panda Controller timeline not having a clear end date, we had to figure out what the best next steps are. After a lot of deliberation, we felt it wasn’t right of us to hold onto your funds for an unknown amount of time without being able to guarantee when delivery will be. We had to make an incredibly difficult decision that we hope is the right one for everyone.

As of today, we’ll be canceling our Kickstarter early with all pledges fully refunded while we pursue outside investment to continue the project internally.We know how disappointing this is for many of you. We can’t thank you enough for the support you’ve given us to help make our dreams a reality.

To date, the controller had raised close to $2 million USD in funds and had more than 14,000 backers. As highlighted in the video above, the Panda Controller was intended to be the "next evolution" of the GameCube controller - with the highest quality parts for competitive play and "powerful" customisation features - including add-ons and more.

How are you feeling about this Kickstarter cancellation? Were you a backer? Comment down below.

When he’s not paying off a loan to Tom Nook, Liam likes to report on the latest Nintendo news and admire his library of video games. His favourite Nintendo character used to be a guitar-playing dog, but nowadays he prefers to hang out with Judd the cat.

At least they were honest and upfront and refunding everyone is a hard choice but shows their integrity. I commend them on their efforts and commitment towards their product. I wish them the best and hopefully they will release their control to the world eventually.

Nice to see an honest campaign manager telling it as it is, really refreshing from some of the... less authentic campaigns I've seen, and nearly backed.

Stop relying on China to build everything electronics related, if the last couple years hasn't shown people already, the CCP aren't to be trusted. The sooner the world gets alternatives to electronics manufacturing, the better we'll all be.

I wasn't even aware of this thing so it's no skin off my back, but it looks nice and I think it's a shame they were forced to cancel the kickstarter campaign early. Hopefully they can still pick the project up off the ground with those outside funds.

@Dragonstar Couldn't agree more. I think the era of Chinese manufacturing is coming to an end. As we can see here, it's no longer the best means of getting things manufactured.

I'm sure the big corporate brands aren't nearly as effected as the smaller companies are as well. Big corporations can afford to setup advanced factories where all the profit is made through cheap labor. Smaller companies can't do that. Can't say this is very ethical anyways.

Big respect to Panda Hardware for the transparent communication, and canceling the Kickstarter instead of holding onto backer money forever.

I've had money invested in Super Rare Games orders that might just take as long as this to fulfill (I'll have that LE release of Clockwork Aquario one day...probably)...definitely an odd decision to take, that's for sure. Glad I didn't fund this to begin with though?

Oh no people will have to use one of the countless others now

@Dragonstar Not like China is the only place impacted by Covid.

@Dragonstar Are you prepared to pay more for the same items, made domestically by local workers who are both unionized and paid a decent wage? We'll see. 🤔

@Dragonstar Hope you’re ready to pay 10 times what you do now.

@EVIL-C They would cry if the msrp for Game went up to the price they were in the early 90’s, let alone the price of consoles.

That’s disappointing for sure, but it seems like they handled it with as much care as they could. I expect they’ll be just as successful once they relaunch the Kickstarter.

@EVIL-C Yep that's the problem. Everyone says not to manufacture in China. But the reality is, if this controller launches at $150, no one is going to buy one, and the company will fold. So basically manufacturing domestically is a pointless dead end.

@EmmatheBest I am also waiting for the Aquario LE. Been mailing the customer service twice, never getting a reply. So I gotta applaud any company that is open and upfront with their potential customers.

@Tim_Vreeland Try telling that to Microsoft with their always sold-out Xbox Elite controller.

@EVIL-C This is a fallacy. Just because workers are unionized doesn’t inherently mean a higher price, which unions have actively campaigned for years to disprove this. The real problem isn’t the union, it’s the lack of infrastructure. Our production cycle is different than China’s and in many instances we don’t have the equipment necessary to successfully compete, which quite frankly has nothing to do with our safety laws.

Take for example a bow tie. You can mass-produce a quality bow ties in China for around $2 per bow tie each. This price doesn’t take into account freight or duties.

A bow tie made in the US would cost about the same because the US doesn’t believe in a living wage and in many states could get away with $8 an hour. A fair hourly wage would probably be closer to $16, which would push the price of production to $4 per bow tie. In the US example I didn’t even touch on the cost of materials because it’s literally pennies (around 0.25 if you just buy fabric off the shelf). Markup going to retail would sit around $10-$12 per bow tie with MSRP around $20-$24.

This is an over simplified example. In the case of electronics, you’re going to have a harder time sourcing components without importing from China. There aren’t any mass production board manufacturers in the US that could undertake this project. Also chip manufacturing generally isn’t profitable due to the need to continuously upgrade equipment. That’s one of the reasons I’ve never purchased shares of TSMC - despite their massive expansion they output billions annually to keep up with evolving tech. They have plans to construct a factory in the US though, and that would be a good litmus for local sourced vs Chinese sourced components once completed.

@tonyp1987 They may have lost a big chunk of money, but they definitely gained a hell lot of goodwill.

The irony of people moaning about items being made in China, while posting messages on devices either made in China or using components sourced there, priceless morality lessons, totally priceless.

I'm not that convinced this is the honourable thing everyone thinks it is. Working on it for 3 years and only just realised now that it was going to be too difficult to get it our within the year?

Alternatively, they now have a solid base on which to seek alternative investment because they can prove they have a solid tangible customer base who were willing to fund the project to the tune of $2m. I'm sure this will make any finance meetings much easier on their end.

Personally I think the whole Kickstarter thing was a ruse and now they can seek investment on better terms.

If the KS campaign was still ongoing then this isn't a case of refunding. Money is only taken when the campaign completes successfully. Fair play to not let it get that far though. As before, I ruled my self out of this one when standard warranty was offered only as a stretch goal.

Good they were honest but like I still don't understand the appeal of the GameCube controller to begin with it's objectively mediocre at best. There are a ton of much better controllers out there, let the GameCube controller die and move on.

@Morph who are we supposed to feel bad for in that case, though? assuming its used as a "look, this is worthwhile!" pitch to investors, the product still gets made, and nobody lost any money beyond what they pay for the product when it comes out assuming its still of interest

@faint not really a problem looking at the average consumer goods landfill people live in nowadays thanks to slave labor prices, I feel.

Honest to return customers money but highest quality parts from China?

Sounds like they found an investor that had better terms than kickstarter.

It’s nice to know in the comments that more people will buy if they Sell the controllers for 100 pounds each.

@Link_of_Hyrule objectively mediocre? It might not be the best for every type of game but I would not call it the worst. There are many people who just prefer this layout. How does ''keeping this alive'' bothers you

For me it miss a wireless module+receiver for GC. With that, it would be perfect

@GayusGayer Hey, I’m all for the end Of monitory systems, but if you believe prices won’t go up drastically if manufacturing is moved to the US/Europe under our current system, you’re living in a dream world

@Morph I agree, but it still honorable. Yes, very smart, but They could easily delayed and use the Kickstarter campaign as a insurance. No reasonable person would complaining that much knowing about the silicon shortage.

With this way they did, they have the proof they need to show it's a profitable product, happy costumers base and a marketing campaign. Everybody wins

And I will buy one of these the day it does come out because they have my respect.

@Link_of_Hyrule that's just plain blasphemy, to the work camps with you..

Sucks, really hope they can revive the project with an official hardware manufacturer like Hori or maybe Nintendo themselves

@BrintaPap it's not that it's bad as much as there's better options. I can't think of anything that's really better about it. I think what it really boils down to is people having nostalgia for it. There's a lot of existing GameCube controllers including officially licensed ones. But honestly, just use a pro controller imo. But I'm probably just being a jerk people can use whatever controller they want. I just personally don't see any appeal of bringing it back. To me it's like the N64 controller sure it's cool I'll buy it for my collection but I'll never really use it because it's trash.

@johnvboy “Hmm, you have criticisms of society, yet you live in society. Curious.”

Every nation on earth outsourcing manufacturing to China is one of the biggest mistakes we've ever made.

Uhhhh - does anyone else think maybe they realized it would be more profitable to sell retail, secured outside funding, then refunded the Kickstarter as advised by legal and doesn’t actually care about the backers?

Or am I overly cynical?

Nice, at least they're honest and refund every back the money. That's certainly something the ALL controller Kickstarter campaign can't do.

@somebread I'm not really suggesting we should really feel bad for anyone, I do however think they have misled people.

It took them 4 weeks and $2m in pledges to 'realise' they couldn't go through with what was promised?

My guess is they have been approached by an investor who has given them more favourable terms which has led to them cancelling, or they always intended to go this route and then seek alternative investment.

My guess is we are going to see this pop up again 12 months from now. Realistically they could have just altered the delivery date, it has happened plenty to much bigger companies, Steam Deck for example.

I just don't think all is as it seems.

No you seem to misunderstand, I have no issues, my point was it's a bit rich stating things should not be made in a certain place, while using items made in that specific locale or using components sourced there.

That's a shame for the makers and the buyers, but at least they were up front and refunded the backers. Hopefully the controller still comes out and people that want it can buy it.

@Dragonstar Stop relying on China to build everything electronics related, if the last couple years hasn't shown people already, the CCP aren't to be trusted. The sooner the world gets alternatives to electronics manufacturing, the better we'll all be. Ask your politicians of each Countries. If not for them this wouldn't happen. People refuse to pay for Quality products and see the real cost. So what do we do ask for the lowest common denominator. Oh, yes us the Consumers asked and we got where we are now. So don't blame China they are only part of the problem. Rather then Invest in our own Infrastructure we blame China whom isn't the culprit here. They are a communist not a democracy and to think that is the same is delusional they claim communist party but scratch the surface they they are opportunist Capitalists' just alike. No the problem starts at home the Consumer not willing to pay the price for goods to pay Living wages. If they did that we would see the real cost of Goods and what it takes to make them. So, Stop blaming just China here. I don't like them for their so-called communist party of which is just a Farce.

@Dragonstar Nintendo and other video game firms are already ahead of you on that one. Thanks to the US-China trade war, a lot of firms are moving to other countries in Asia where are are better manufacturing ethics and standards. Most notable example is Vietnam, given how insanely fast their economy has been growing.

So basically this was a giant waste of time because they didn’t secure their possible supply beforehand

@tonyp1987 now when they make it it will cost more than what they were going to sell it for. They canceled it because they think they can get more t for the controllers than what they were selling them for. I think this was done for greed.

@GannonBanned no I agree this is all about money. They will rerelease it for a higher price now and price gouge even more than they already were and it’ll end up with the mediocre quality of power a, pro and hori. I’ll stick with my GameCube wired controllers. I can buy plenty of them for the price of this thing and they are very durable.

@johnvboy That’s exactly the point I’m taking issue with. Yes, people here are speaking against something being made in awful conditions in China while posting on a smartphone or computer made in China.

But what are they supposed to do? It’s basically impossible to have a smartphone or computer without using at least a component made in China. There’s nothing hypocritical about it, unless the answer is to somehow live in 2021 society with no devices.

So how will this change anything, apart from a token stand against it on a niche gaming forum comment section which will make no difference whatsoever, its a pseudo moralistic stance at best.

I do see your point on having to have devices from China, but as you said there is no option apart from not having these electronics, but as you say how are you then going to put all this to rights by posting on internet forums or social media, a tough question, but not sure how you can suggest it's in no way hypocritical.

So the answer is of course not live in the modern world sans electronic devices, just do not get all high and mighty when they are indirectly supporting the manufacturer of such items.

It's unfortunate, but at least they're being more responsible than the makers of the All controller.

@JayJ This is not an "Elite" controller and isn't competing in that space.

"No one wants to pay $80,000 for a Kia Soul" "Try telling that to Tesla!"

@johnvboy I’m sorry, but that’s absurd, status quo apologia. “Well you have to have phones, so you can’t complain about this or demand change. You hate capitalism, but you work for a wage and buy goods so don’t get all high and mighty when other aspects of capitalism frustrate you.”

@icomma there is some conscientious consumption on capitalism, people try and act like it’s a free for all

@Morph thanks! After the first 15 “wow i love this amazing company” i blanked and didn’t make it to 22

@Dirty0814 judging from most comments it was a huge PR win

Totally the opposite to be honest, I have no issues with capitalism at all, which is why I still feel you have not understood my posts, my issue is with people failing to understand they are in a small part contributing to the problem they are fighting against.

And it's now a human requirement to own a mobile phone or any other piece of electronics?, that's simply not true, all these things are wants not needs, and a choice to purchase or not, peoples lives will not end without them, so this point is totally ludicrous.

We all decide personally on how we progress with such matters, I take on board the issues but still buy and therefore have to accept I am a tiny part of the problem, now I could choose to complain on various platforms about the issues, but it would still not detract from the fact I have supported this in some way or other, not suggesting people can't object, but they have to see there is some level of hypocrisy attached, not sure why this is so difficult for you to understand.

Very cynical, but probably not that far from the truth.

@Dragonstar Invasion of Taiwan in 3, 2, 1…

This goes beyond anything they could've factored for so stopping is better then not knowing when they can get production going to fulfill request. They can always come back again.

you think your opinion of an interface device is objectively true?

prove to me objectively that the gamecube controller isn't my favorite, prove to me objectively it doesn't fit my hands just right. prove to me that the layout isn't the most logical and instinctive layout for me and my gameplay style.

objectively please. I cant wait to hear your argument 😊

@GannonBanned That thought crossed my mind, that much more money can be made doing this off Kickstarter, and sometimes I wish I wasn't so cynical. So many Kickstarters are delivered later than their original delivery date, so that doesn't seem a valid excuse, and I'm sure most backers would have been understanding of delays given the Kickstarter's wild success.

I always prefer to give the benefit of the doubt though, and the truth if people have been misled often comes out eventually.

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