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The developers of EmuDeck have canceled an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for a mini-PC hardware project because “nobody bought it.” We checked the Wayback machine and discovered that just six people had pledged $600+ to get one of the finished mini-PCs before the campaign was shuttered. When the crowdfunding closed, it was only 25% funded, and EmuDeck felt there wasn’t time to rescue it. The campaign began in late August.
According to the EmuDeck Team’s social media, they are currently busy refunding the handful of enthusiasts (four from the US, two from Europe) who pledged their hard-earned cash to back the hardware project. However, the EmuDeck Team is already teasing that they are “working on something else,” so if a custom mini-PC for emulation fun would appeal to you, it may be worth watching for future announcements.
EmuDeck is best known for its popular multi-platform emulation tool, which makes it easy to install a range of emulators, support and configuration files, bezels, hotkeys, and performance fixes across SteamOS, Linux, Android, Windows, and other OSes. In this context, it is somewhat surprising they couldn’t get enough traction with a mini-PC crowdfunding project.
The EmuDeck Machine, a retro-inspired ITX PC, offered decent specs. However, we have seen plenty of prior mini-PCs with similar hardware and even one or two with retro gaming styling. To us, it looked like a NUC cosplaying as a Sega Dreamcast.
Inside the machine would be an AMD Ryzen 7 7840 processor sporting relatively potent onboard Radeon 780M graphics. There were also plans for a Radeon RX 7600-powered eGPU dock to match the EmuDeck Machine. In what sounds like a rather fluid creation process, a DIY kit was also floated as an idea without kindling much interest.
It is good to hear that those who pledged towards this project have their money back or should do so soon. We always remind readers of the risks of crowdfunding, but at least these backers have the cash to soothe the disappointment of the failed project. Hopefully, this will be a valuable learning process for EmuDeck, and they will come back with an irresistible piece of hardware for emulation enthusiasts.
