PlayJam, the company behind portable Android game console GameStick, has finally begun shipping Kickstarter backer units and should start doing the same for retail orders by the end of September. In a recent blog post, the company explained an initial pilot run had been completed, which meant Kickstarter units were primed to come off the production line this month with fulfillment happening in batches.
Reports say that all Kickstarter units have now been shipped, with the last of them expected to arrive around the middle of September. For those who pre-ordered the device on Amazon or through any other retailer, the expected launch date is currently set for September 30.
Initially backers were supposed to receive their consoles back in April, but due to an abundance of orders it was pushed to June, and then delayed once again for a second time. The company received so many orders it had to reorganize its manufacturing infrastructure to accommodate the demand. Unlike Ouya, it sounds as though GameStick backers will go hands on before the expected retail launch date.
As you may recall, the latter was heavily criticized for not living up to the promise of delivering units to all backers ahead of retail availability, prompting the company to offer in-store credit to those who felt wronged.
Like Ouya, GameStick is an inexpensive Android console with its own eco system and controller. The $80 miniature console is obviously much more portable though, requiring nothing more than the controller and dongle. It features full 1080p video playback with 8GB of flash storage that's expandable by way of a microSD slot, as well as a dual core Cortex-A9 8726-MX processor, a MALI 400 graphics chip and 1 GB of RAM.