PLAION had known for months that production was going off track, yet still publicly denied the delay while continuing to take preorders — now nearly 30 times higher than originally forecast.
But apparently, there was no problem with how customers were treated. Only with console production.
At TGS 2026, PLAION spent a lot of time explaining the Neo Geo AES+ delay through industrial issues: demand far beyond expectations, the original supply chain being unable to keep up, etc. What PLAION conveniently avoids addressing — and what journalists also seem to avoid asking about — is the fact that customers were misled for months in order to keep preorders as high as possible, even though the company already knew it would not be able to deliver on the originally announced schedule.
Preorders had already opened on April 16. Within just 24 hours, PLAION had received more preorders than its forecast volume for an entire year. The company therefore knew almost immediately that its production forecasts had been exceeded and that it would need to increase capacity.
On July 29, a Japanese retailer informed some customers that the release, originally scheduled for November 12, 2026, had been pushed back to September 17, 2027. The following day, PLAION explicitly denied the information, claiming it was a mix-up involving a Spectrum accessory. Yet the changes PLAION is now talking about — finding a new supplier, negotiations, redesigning the cartridges, and validating a new solution — obviously did not happen in a matter of days. The issue must therefore have been known and worked on for several weeks, if not several months.
Then, on September 9, 2026, 6 weeks after that denial, PLAION officially announced that the console had been delayed to September 17, 2027 — exactly the same date communicated by the Japanese retailer. Throughout that entire period, preorders remained open while the official release date was still listed as November 12. By TGS, preorders had reportedly reached around 30 times the original forecast.
So this goes far beyond a simple industrial delay or a lack of transparency. PLAION publicly denied information that ultimately turned out to be accurate, both in substance and in the date itself, while continuing to take customers’ money through preorders.
Technical problems can happen, and delays can be understood. Lying to your customers, however, destroys trust.
Under those circumstances, the clearest response from customers is to cancel their preorders and wait until the console is actually available before buying it.
After all, PLAION now claims that production has been scaled to meet demand...
#NeoGeo #NeoGeoAESPlus #PLAION #SNK #TGS2026 @PLAION_JPN@PLAION
Lost in translation a 23 ans, et le monde qu'il décrit n'existe plus.
C'est un monde que j'ai connu et dont je suis nostalgique.
À l'époque, vivre à Tokyo pour un non-Japonais c'était vivre dans un monde hors du monde, coupé de tout. Ce mélange d'altérité radicale et d'anonymat de la foule attaquait jusqu'à la conscience de son propre être.
Et croiser une autre âme errante dans Tokyo créait des relations immédiates et intimes.
Aujourd'hui il n'y a plus vraiment d'endroits coupés du monde, car l'on est toujours à une visio de son foyer et des gens qui nous sont familiers. Et la grande partie de notre vie qui se déroule désormais en ligne nous suit dans toutes les géographies.
La langue elle-même n'est plus la même barrière. Je me souviens encore des cartes tentaculaires du métro tokyoïte où il n'y avait pas un seul caractère latin auquel se raccrocher. Aujourd'hui presque tout est traduit en anglais, et une app permet de traduire ce qui ne l'est pas.
En 2003, tu pouvais payer ton taxi avec ton téléphone à Tokyo et cela avait un côté futuriste. 23 ans plus tard, c'est banal.
À l'époque, aussi, la vie y coûtait très cher, et cela tenait le tourisme de masse éloigné.
Je pouvais passer des semaines à Tokyo sans rencontrer un seul occidental. Aujourd'hui ils sont par paquets de 10 dans le moindre métro. Il y a même un mouvement où de plus en plus en plus d'Américains vont s'installer à Tokyo, pour profiter des prix de l'immobilier plus bas qu'à NY ou SF, d'une ville parfaitement sûre, de milliers de restaurants et bars qui battent n'importe quel lieu américain, bref pour profiter de la meilleure ville du monde, ce que Tokyo reste, malgré tout.
Mais je reste étreint par une sensation de paradis perdu pour toujours. Peut-être le dernier du genre.
PLAION has delayed the Neo Geo AES+ Plus until September 17, 2027. Yet this date had already been revealed on July 29 in an email sent by a Japanese online retailer to one of its customers.
When contacted repeatedly, PLAION insisted that the email concerned a Spectrum accessory and that the Neo Geo AES + was unaffected. 6 weeks later, the company confirmed the very same delay it had denied.
Throughout that period, PLAION kept pre-orders open and continued accepting customers’ money, despite knowing that the promised November 2026 release date was impossible to meet and that the postponement had already been decided.
Misleading customers while continuing to accept pre-orders, only to delay the console by 10 months, is completely unacceptable. Everyone who pre-ordered it should cancel their order and demand an immediate refund.
#NeoGeoAESPlus #NeoGeo #SNK #PLAION
Next up is a bit of a deepcut fan-favorite... the creepy-as-hell #Michigan: Report from Hell, which was released to the PS2 in Japan on August 5th, 2004!����💀
We've got an original promotional poster featuring model Yinling up in the GhM offices, visible in some #GhA videos...🚿