Nvidia’s Project Shield Release Gets Pushed Back To July Due To “Mechanical Issue”

The Nvidia Project Shield, a handheld gaming device from the graphics card-maker that was set to debut Thursday, will be delayed until July, the company revealed today. In a statement provided to TechCrunch, Nvidia explained that it had to delay the release after discovering a mechanical issue tied to a piece supplied by a third-party company. The full statement is below.

During our final QA process, we discovered a mechanical issue that relates to a 3rd party component.  We want every SHIELD to be perfect, so we have elected to shift the launch date to July.  We’ll update you as soon as we have an exact date.

Perhaps most disappointing is that there isn’t a set timeframe for when the Shield will make it out to early buyers. Nvidia says in a blog post that it’s working “around the clock” with the supplier to correct the issue, but that doesn’t indicate whether we’ll see it arrive early or late in July. If it’s an issue that shut down production lines and affected all units, the likelihood is that Nvidia will need at least a few weeks to put everything right.

We’ve already gotten our hands on Shield, and while the hardware wasn’t the production version, the software seemed ready for market and the control layout was pleasing. Hopefully that means this is just a minor hiccup, and the July launch will go off without a hitch.