Upcoming Evercade EXP limited edition units stolen in targeted robbery
For those who have been looking forward to the lovely looking upcoming Evercade EXP retro gaming handheld, we have some unfortunate news that has come to us direct from manufacturer Blaze. It seems that a lorry carrying a significant amount of Limited Edition units of the new handheld, intended for shipping to UK, USA and non-EU rest-of-world customers via retail partner Funstock, was broken into, and approximately half a million pounds’ worth of stock was stolen.
The crime occurred in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, and thankfully nobody was hurt in its perpetration. Since learning of the robbery, Blaze has been working behind the scenes with the police and other interested parties to determine a suitable resolution to the situation, including how best to communicate with fans and customers as quickly and accurately as possible.
The situation comes just a week before the Evercade EXP’s release, so it’s put a real dampener on the spirits at Blaze, but Blaze CEO Andrew Byatt has been keen to emphasise that he feels it is the fans and customers who are the real victims of this crime. And with that in mind, while the team at Blaze are hopeful that the stock may be recovered at some point in the near future, they also acknowledge that this is likely to be a time-consuming process.
Since this involves an active police investigation, Blaze is unfortunately unable to comment further on the status of the stolen units and the steps that are being taken at this time, save to say that the situation is as in hand as it possibly can be under the circumstances.
The company would like to remind everyone that since Funstock was the only authorised retailer carrying the Evercade EXP Limited Edition, any other Limited Edition units you see for sale online are likely stolen goods. You are encouraged to contact Blaze directly via the email address [email protected] if you see any suspicious third-party listings of Evercade EXP Limited Edition units for sale.
In order to help make things right a little sooner, Blaze has ordered replacement units from the factory to be shipped out to all affected customers, though these will obviously arrive later than the originally intended December 15, 2022 release date. Retailer Funstock will be in contact directly with those whose orders have been affected by this, but there are no extra steps required to obtain a replacement unit; orders will not be automatically cancelled and customers will not be required to re-submit their orders.
As an added bonus, anyone who was affected by this will be added to a special “Heroes” section in the Evercade EXP console credits, and they will be provided with a free screen protector and a 20% off voucher for a subsequent Funstock order when their new unit arrives.
It is important to note that the robbery has only affected customers who ordered directly through Funstock’s UK warehouse, which covers the UK, the US and non-EU countries. EU countries received their allocation of Limited Edition units successfully and these will be shipped out from Funstock’s new European warehouse in time for launch. The non-limited white model of the Evercade EXP and the cartridges scheduled for launch at the same time as the system should also not be affected.
For further information on the situation, please see Blaze’s official statement here.
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