The Phantom is credited as immensely revolutionary and one of the best gaming consoles … that was never actually released.
Why was the Phantom revolutionary and considered potentially “game changing” in the gaming world?
- The Phantom was set to have PC like performance, far more superior than any other gaming system. Why is this important? It made the potential ceiling for games in terms of speed and graphics that much higher than any other games in the market.
- The Phantom would not offer games in physical form. Instead it would be built with an internal direct download service that would let users download games directly from an internet connection to their console (much like Playstation and Xbox now offer). Why is this feature important? Gamers no longer had to walk/drive to the store or wait for delivery of highly anticipated games.
- The price of their games were set to be around $2.00 to $50.00, which would be in similar price range with other consoles in the market.
Why was it never released?
The company with the task of creating the system was a virtually unknown company named Infinium Labs, who was venture-capital-funded. Ultimately their costs simply ran too high when trying to make the console actually work. Infinium labs began to have problems securing funding and had to abandon operations.
Questions
What do you think was the biggest problem surrounding the release of the Phantom Gaming Console?
In terms of cost, time, and performance, what advice would you give Infinium Labs if you were hired as a business consultant?
Sources:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/phantom.htm
http://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-7-consoles-that-never-were/?page=7
Hey there, I enjoyed your blog post. I did not know that another gaming counsel like this actually existed at one point. It seems like microsoft and sony are taking over the gaming market with their new devices so I thought this article was very relevant. In regards to your question, I believe the biggest problem surrounding the release of the Phantom Gaming Console was the cost to build the product combined with the affects of barrier to entry. The gaming market is already being over run by microsoft and sony producing two separate systems that generally do the same thing. Why need another product that would do the same thing? It seemed like a great concept, able to download games from your own home, but the cost of this system seemed too high, hence why the venture capitalists jumped the ship before it set sail. In regards to your second question, I would recommend that Infinium labs to produce a cheaper gaming console that does the exact same thing as its competitors. After talking to a few friends, we all agree that the price for these consoles sold by sony and microsoft are already too high. An initial investment of $400 for the system plus $60 for each game is already ridiculous. I think lowering the price for their product would give Infinium Labs a greater market share, as many consumers prefer to choose the cheaper product.
This is an interesting post regarding gaming, especially considering all of these attributes are widely available and utilized now. It’s frustrating to see technology that has the capability to revolutionize an entire industry go unestablished due to limited funding. Now, platforms such as Sony’s Playstation and a number of other consoles all carry this ‘instant accessibility option’ for their users. This just shows that perhaps just a little luck could have boosted this no-name onto the limelight, and maybe today we’d all recognize the Phantom just as we do the XBOX.
You are entirely right, Craig. Consoles are so expensive these days! When you mentioned how costly they can be I began to reflect on how our phones are beginning to dominate the gaming market and in a sense almost replace the need for gaming systems for a lot of people. Obviously for the everyday gamer they aren’t a replacement but for the casual gamer, it might be a great fit, especially in terms of costs since you can find a lot of games for free on the Apple Store and the Android Market.
Samuel, limited funding did seem to really hurt the Phantom project. Its a constant them that most successful companies have received constant flow of funds from reliable sources. Like Playstation from Sony, Xbox from Microsoft, and Nintendo from a variety of sources like Philips and at one point Sony as well.
I think the biggest problem with the Phantom was the lack of information and communication coming from the development team to the Venture Group. Perhaps the venture group could not really understand all the technical terms when hearing the pitch about the Phantom, and maybe they thought that if the developers seemed convinced about being able to create such a revolutionary product that they should invest in it. Perhaps the Venture Group did not have someone to bridge the gap between gaming jargon to how doable the project is, and if they did, that person should never be used by the venture group ( or at least I wouldn’t if I were them because the project was obviously not doable within budget).
I have seen the importance of that liaison position at my job where we have someone ( VP of Strategy and Development) who is the bridge between the IS department and the regular business people ( he knows enough technical coding jargon while also knowing what the business people want to use the tools for).
I remember hearing about this, and I think this would have been a very popular item in the stores. I have two little brothers with every possible gaming system. We have game discs in every room of the house, or it seems like it. Sometimes the discs get scratched and no longer work. Having this gaming system would be so much more convenient. I believe that this project would have worked better if they found better sources of funding.
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