After investors flee: the handheld console Smach Z is about to end

Crowdfunding can also go badly wrong. This is experienced by numerous supporters who together contributed around one million euros to the development of the handheld console Smach Z on Indiegogo and Kickstarter. After various problems and jumped investors, the team is facing bankruptcy and the project is about to end.

In the forum, which is only accessible to members, founder Daniel Fernandez has the new current situation informed, the post was shared with the public on Reddit.

With the jump of investors threatens the end

According to Fernandez, the project is now finally about to end, because the private investors necessary to continue it have jumped off. The company is facing bankruptcy unless the last attempts to find new investors are successful in the coming months. According to Fernandez, the chances that the Smach Z will ever appear at all are slim. It is also questionable whether those supporters who have not yet received a refund will still receive it. Due to the loss of private investors, refunds had to be completely suspended in recent months. In the event of bankruptcy, all of the funds gained from the sale of the remaining company holdings should flow into reimbursements for customers, but how far that goes is also questionable.

Corona and battery problems

Fernandez cites three main reasons for the failure of the Smach Z, which can hardly be avoided, according to the post: On the one hand, the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic forced the team to move production from the potentially cheap China to Spain, the home country of the project, to relocate. Despite the use of state subsidies (ERTE, short-time working allowance in Spain), the team had to be reduced to only three to five people; currently three people are supposed to be working on the project. In addition, the CE certification failed because the charger did not pass the necessary tests, but the manufacturer still did not improve it. Finally, problems arose with the final batteries, which prevented series production.

Due to the problems, delays and the uncertain prospect of sales, the investors have now withdrawn. The income generated from crowdfunding alone was apparently not enough.

Long history of postponements

The Smach Z (formerly Smach Zero) emerged from the Steamboy project. The handheld PC was actually supposed to appear in 2016, but the first round of financing on Kickstarter had failed. Few details about the hardware and the lack of a functional prototype fueled doubts. The second Kickstarter round was then successful, but the new delivery target April 2017 at prices from 299 euros was again missed. In 2018, a change in hardware to more powerful Ryzen APUs from the embedded series from AMD became known and a market launch from 629 euros was targeted. After another postponement, however, the hopes for a publication in 2019 were also dashed. Since then it has become quiet around the handheld PC.

Until recently, the Smach Z homepage was still working, but is currently not available.