Competing Against Xbox and PlayStation
Ian Bell, CEO of Slightly Mad Studios has revealed that his company is developing their own games console. A stand alone unit he is calling “Mad Box” which will compete against the PlayStation and Xbox. When asked by Variety when people can expect this console to arrive, Bell gave a timeline of “around three years time”.
https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1080463410171568129
Obviously this is going to be a big undertaking and has to be competitive against the big brands. Which why according to Bell it will support most major VR headsets. Furthermore, he states that its hardware will be equivalent to a “very fast PC 2 years from now.”
Slightly Mad Studios is of course, the London-based company behind Project CARS and Need for Speed: Shift.
“What is the Mad Box?” Bell wrote. “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.”
How Far Along is the “Mad Box” Project?
According to Bell, his company already has multiple investors offering funding to see the project to completion. However, he clarified that is is still “early days” and they are still mulling over the best offers available. “All that we have approached are discussing standard partial ownership investment deals” Bell explains.
How Much Will this Mad Box Console Cost?
Although he did not reveal any target pricing yet, Bell states that it will be competitive (against Xbox and PS4). “Prices will drop with ship quantity but we’re not planning on taking as large a cut as other console owners to enable us to cut prices massively,” he stated. “We fully expect to be matching the best of the rest early in the lifecycle though.”
