Evercade reveals $600k worth of EXP handhelds stolen in transit

Evercade, a privately-owned British handheld company has announced that Limited Edition units of its Evercade EXP handheld have been robbed, causing over $600,000 in stock to be lost before launch.

In the early hours of December 6, 2022, a shipment of Evercade EXP Limited Edition handhelds, bound for customers in the US, UK and other non-EU countries was robbed in a potentially targeted criminal attack. A statement from Blaze Entertainment, the manufacturer of the Evercade EXP handheld tells us in a press release. The announcement was made following police investigation.

No one was hurt in the robbery of the upcoming handheld device, though over $600,000 of stock was lost as a result of the crime. Andrew Byatt, CEO of Blaze Entertainment stated the following:

“This is an unprecedented situation in the history of Blaze and Funstock and we deeply sympathize with all our fans and customers who are the victims of this theft.“

He continues to state that all units that were initially bound for consumers will be replaced, as the company has already begun to manufacture more units as soon as possible.

“We firmly believe that the customers of Blaze and Funstock are victims here and we apologise for the impact this event will cause. We hope all our customers can join us in condemning the actions of these criminals and ensuring this event will not be allowed to stop our enjoyment of the classic gaming experience that Evercade provides.”

The limited-edition Evercade EXP was initially due to launch on December 15, and offers a host of retro games to play on the handheld through a unique cartridge-based system. This differs from other handhelds like the Steam Deck, in that they are purely focused on delivering a licensed, legal way to play some of your favorite retro games, instead of emulation.

Robbery “potentially targeted”

The stock in question was moving between warehouses, a feat the criminals may have been targeting. Regardless, it appears that EU stock of the limited edition Evercade EXP has not been affected, and is at the company’s European warehouses. They also stress that the standard edition models have not been affected.

Blaze also urges people who see suspicious stock on sale at third-party websites to step forward, as they could potentially be purchasing stolen goods. If you see that, they state to email interested@evercade.co.uk.

In the meantime, the company has also issued a blog post for concerned customers to understand the state of their pre-orders of limited edition units. This has not affected the release date of the standard edition models, which are still poised for release on December 15.