Phantom Console Put on Hold

technoid_ writes "Looks like the Infinium Labs Phantom Game Console is put on hold until they can secure some more funding. Right now the company is focusing on getting its Phantom Lapboard to the market, and may pursue the Phantom Game service later. Interesting note, they have spent almost 4 times as much on Consultants as they have in development costs so far." From the article: "From its inception in December of 2002 through September of last year, Infinium racked up $62.7 million in losses. Of that, only $3.5 million has been lost to development costs. The company has spent more than half that in advertising, even though none of its products or services have been released yet. More of the company's money has been going toward consultants ($12.8 million), salaries ($11.9 million), and general and administrative expenses ($5.9 million)."

Comments

For serious?

[millennial]

Are you serious? They spent almost twice as much on "general expenses" as they spent on actual development? If that doesn't prove that the system is vaporware, nothing will.

Re:For serious?

[ShawnDoc]

I worked at a .com startup that was like this. Each of the original founders was taking home more money each month that I was given to run the entire web development team. Again, we were a .com startup so our entire business was web development. So our entire budget (salaries + software + hardware) for the entire development team was less than the paycheck for one of the original founders. And by the way, only one of the "founders" was actually actively involved in the company. I remember one month the "travel expenses" of one of the founders was more than his monthly salary. Any wonder we didn't last much more than a year?

From The Desk Of

[American AC in Paris]

Dear Venture Capitalists:

It has recently come to my attention that Infinium Labs has accumulated over sixty-two million dollars in debt.

Clearly, there are substantial numbers amidst your ranks who are perfectly willing to part with large sums of money for no good reason whatsoever.

I would ask these investors to send me $100,000 cash, in return for which I will do absolutely nothing. It should be obvious at this point that investing in Infinium Labs is an exercise in futility, humiliation and shame, so I think my offer looks pretty good, on balance. It's also much less expensive.

I eagerly await your reply in the form of crisp, new $100 bills.

Warmest Regards,
AAiP

Re:From The Desk Of

[AKAImBatman]

I would ask these investors to send me $100,000 cash, in return for which I will do absolutely nothing.

It won't work. Everyone knows that Venture Capitalists would never invest in an individual. Too much "risk." You need to first register a new Corporation in the state of California known as "American AC in Paris, Inc." with the mission statement of "making money by doing nothing." The VCs will then give you massive sums of money that you can use to pay your own exhorbant salary. Once the money runs out, you simply declare bankruptcy and free yourself from any penalties. The VCs will get to sell everything your company owns, but since it doesn't own anything, they'll get nothing.

See how VCs mitigate risk this way? :-P

Theivery is awesome!

[Yocto Yotta]

34 months have elapsed for the period these financials are from.

That equals to approximately $103,000 a month in development costs, $376,000 a month in consultation fees, $350,000 a month in salaries, and 174,000 a month in administrative fees. Overall losses are 1.84 million dollars per month, December 2002 through September 2005 . . .

Two questions: First, How many people do they employee and contract services from? Second, if you're an investor, how does your ass feel right now?

Re:Theivery is awesome!

[nelsonal]

This is exactly what the HardOCP story exposed, and the $25 million payday for the insiders is why they sued to get them to hush up. Since the VCs invested after that story the expose was published, it is always nice to see fools separated from their money (hopefully they will have less foolishness or less money next time).

DNF

[AKAImBatman]

But... but... but...

HOW WILL I PLAY DUKE NUKEM FOREVER?!?

*sob*

---

What I really want to know is, what genius thought it would be a good idea to hype the hell out of this thing before development even began in earnest? I mean, 3 mil for development, ~60 mil for other stuff? There's something seriously wrong here. Not to mention that for 3 mil most of us would have had something ready to go out the door.

Re:DNF

[nelsonal]

The genius who took home most of the $15 million in salaries (and probably a decent chunk of the consulting fees), but that's just my guess. Without hype, there would not have been any VC money, or secondary money to have paid those $60 million in other expenses. Welcome to the pink sheets and boiler rooms of Wall Street (probably Boca Raton or Brooklyn, actually).

I'm reminded of "The Producers"...

[DorkusMasterus]

Wanna know how to make money in this business? Promise a product for years that you have no actual intention of building. Secure funding. Blow funding on employees (friends) as well as some stellar press releases. Hire some "consultants" (hookers) and make a prototype to show off at gaming expos (or just a picture of one, at least). Keep this up until you're sued.

Re:I'm reminded of "The Producers"...

[chris_eineke]

Hire some "consultants" (hookers)

Conslutants?

Surprised?

[Joe Random]

Is there anyone out there who is surprised by this news? I was under the impression that it was now common knowledge that Infinium Labs is a swirling vortex of waste and misery.

Development costs == Salaries??

[panaceaa]

Infinium racked up $62.7 million in losses. Of that, only $3.5 million has been lost to development costs. More of the company's money has been going toward ... salaries ($11.9 million)

What's the difference between development costs and salaries? I could see that the salaries of HR people and accountants should not be counted as development costs, but what about the salaries of the developers? Is the $3.5 million figure just hardware / fabrication costs, or does it also include development salaries?

Re:It does not exist!

[gEvil (beta)]

That's because it doesn't EXIST! Get over it! You've been duped!

Shows what you know! I put in a preorder at Gamestop a few years. Yeah, they have my $600, but I'm guaranteed to be one of the first people with a console when it's released...

Sounds about right...

[digitac]

At E3 a few years ago I went by their booth to see mock-ups of the Phantom Console and they were giving away t-shirts that said "I Believe". It always seemed to me to be a mocking acknowledgement of the general consensus that the product would never hit the market. Even at that E3 everyone knew the product was vaporware. It probably still has a release date between Duke Nukem Forever and Team Fortress 2, both of which are tentatively scheduled to be released shortly after the end of the universe (according to a poster I saw at Milliways). "I Believe" indeed. I believe it's the best promotion of vaporware ever. ::Digitac

Misleading Headline?

[geoffspear]

Was I the only one who assumed this was going to be an article about the Playstation 3?

you've got the cart before the horse

[Thud457]

Maybe investors are paying to quarantine these guys from the industry at large.

I want to be an Infinium Labs consultant

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

Infinium CEO: "Mirror Mirror on the wall, who has the greatest console of all."

Mirror: "Nintendo, deposit $10 million in my Caymen bank account please!"

Infinium CEO: "No, Mirror Mirror on the wall, who has the GREATEST console of all!"

Mirror: "er, Microsoft? deposit $50 million in my Bermuda account."

Infinium CEO: "No, listen jerk! Mirror Mirror on the wall, who has the f*cking GREATEST console of all f*cking time!!!!"

Mirror: "Yeah, thats Sony! It's going to cost you another $300 million before you figure that out asshole!"

Re:In lieu of the name of the console...

[scronline]

Actually, I think Phantomware would be better. I think Phantomware fits even better than vaporware. I mean it is, after all, the definition of vaporware, and .... well, phantom sounds better than vapor. Partly because we can prove the existance of vapor, but not of a phantom heh

Re:I thought the whole "Phantom Console" was a sca

[jandrese]

Nope, that's pretty much correct. I have no idea how they managed to blow that much money though. I guess it's probably hiding off in some offshore account while they report it as "expenses" to the IRS. The demo unit they had at E3 a couple of years ago was a PC inside of a custom built case that probably cost them less than $500 to build.

Re:I don't know what's more funny.

[psocccer]

The "funny" mod does not give karma and those who feel karma is important will use something besides "funny" when they are a moderator. The problem apparently was because a new account could hit the karma cap pretty fast only making +5 funnies. Sort of defeats the purpose of having a funny mod though, but some people care enough about karma to make the "funny" mod almost completely unused now.

Obligatory comment

[SpacePunk]

I hear that Duke Nukem Forever is going to be the flagship game for the Phantom console.

Mel Brooks does hardware?

[Grayden]

This strikes me as being a whole lot like The Producers. Maybe Infinium realized that they could make a bundle by paying themselves big salaries, buying expensive toys, and INTENDING TO FAIL. If they ever produced a real product, they'd have to start being responsible and timely. As it is, they can just soak up venture capital money and live the good life.

Re:I don't know what's more funny.

[KDR_11k]

I keep telling those people to use Underrated instead.