author: Bart Swiatek
Console from Slightly Mad Studios will debut in 3 years
Developers of Project CARS work on their own console to compete against next-gen Xbox and PlayStation, 3 years from now.
IN A NUTSHELL:
- Slightly Mad Studios aims to create its own game console - the Mad Box;
- The new console is to have specs equivalent to a “very fast PC 2 years from now";
- Mad Box will make its debut 3 years from now, at a price comparable to competition;
- The developer will also provide a complete game engine for free to create games for the new platform.
Slightly Mad Studios – developer team known primarily from the Project Cars racing game series – announced something highly unexpected yesterday. The company plans to challenge Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo and enter the market of.... home consoles. Mad Box, as the new platform will be called, is being advertised as "the most powerful console ever built.” The new console is to have components comparable to a "very fast PC 2 years from now" and offer 4K and VR gaming in "60 fps per eye". Mad Box will also support the majority of the biggest VR sets.
“What is the Mad Box? It’s the most powerful console ever built… It’s literally ‘Mad’… You want 4k, you want VR at 60FPS? You want a full engine for free to develop your games on it? You have it”, as Ian Bell, the CEO of Slightly Mad Studios wrote on his Twitter.
Where did this unusual idea come from? What made developers decide to create their own console? According to Bell, the market will benefit from the more competition.
“We think the industry is a little too much of a monopoly or a micro oligopoly (a situation where a few large entities compete with each other, making it difficult for smaller companies - ed.),” Bell explained. “We think competition is healthy and we have the required hardware contacts to be able to bring something epic to fruition based on our designs.”
Mad Box is currently in the pre-production phase - the developers are discussing various details and hold talks with potential partners and investors. The console is expected to make its debut in all major markets 3 years from now at a price comparable to competition. This means that Mad Box is likely to land on the market after the release of the successors to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (most experts expect them next year). This, in turn, makes it even harder to believe in the success of this, aptly named, slightly mad venture. After all, if it doesn’t work out, the would-be Mad console will end up just like OUYA or Steam Machines.