Slightly Mad Studios has been wanting to release a console for a while, one that they were planning on calling the “Mad Box.” We now know it won’t actually be called that, since the trademark has been pulled due to a dispute from a French company, but the studio still seems to want to pursue the idea for the hardware. However, the trademark isn’t the only issue. It seems the announcement of Google’s streaming service, Stadia, dealt a big blow to the console’s potential future.

Speaking with PCGamesInsider.biz, online marketing director Nathan Bell said that the announcement of Stadia caused an expected hit to the project’s future. He says that two investors pulled out after the Stadia announcement. He gave no details on how many other investors remain, but he definitely feels Google’s announcement had a big effect, and could possibly have that kind of an effect on gaming in general.

“Google’s announcement of Stadia hasn’t helped the project with our investors,” he said. “We had some solid investment lined up but Google saying ‘the future of gaming isn’t in a box’ hasn’t done us any favours. Two investors pulled out after the announcement of Stadia. All I can say at this stage is the future of the project is questionable.”

From the start, the ‘Mad Box’ has been met with skepticism and doubt, largely because of Slightly Mad’s size and the colossal amount of capital launching a console of any kind in today’s market would require. We’ll just have to see how it all pans out and what this thing will end up looking like, whatever it’ll be called. If it even gets to the point where it exists, that is.

If Slightly Mad Studios is actually serious about its upcoming console, the Mad Box, it seems like it has been dealt another blow in terms of rolling it out to the market. PCGamesInsider.biz reports that their trademark application for “Mad Box”, which they have proposed as their name for the console, has been withdrawn.

The reason isn’t that they are not interested in making the Mad Box console—maybe they still are, but that’s besides the point. The trademark was withdrawn because a French gaming company with the name of Madbox has opposed the name, claiming it could create confusion—which, to be fair, is a hard stance to argue against.

If the console is still coming, I imagine they will have to settle on a different name. They can do that after they settle on whether they are working with Nvidia or AMD for the system; at least, however, they have settled on the design for this thing, whenever it does come out.

Since the Mad Box seems to be a real thing now, we might as well resign ourselves to getting news about it on a persistent basis. While we have had a look at some concept renders for what the final console might look like when it launches a few years from now, now we apparently know what the final design will be like when it launches, thanks to Slightly Mad Studios’ CEO Ian Bell sharing some pictures on Twitter.

It looks… interesting. It basically looks like a Razer PC, but there are some interesting ideas on there, such as the display screen that shows you what game you are currently playing (this is information you need, because you wouldn’t know otherwise), as well as any current notifications. Look, I said the ideas are interesting, not that they are good.

That aside, apparently the console can be placed in a vertical and a horizontal position, can be wall mounted, and can be customized in a multitude of ways. As I said, assuming it’s real, I’m sure there will be a lot of takers for some of its more unique ideas.

https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1083557926944423936?s=21

Making a console is incredibly expensive. There’s a reason that more companies have been driven out of the console industry than most others, and a reason that no new companies, even cash flush tech companies such as Apple and Amazon, enter the arena any more. It takes a lot of money to sustain a console, and it’s an incredibly risky venture.

So Slightly Mad Studios, a development house known for niche (albeit well made) racing games so far, announcing that they will have their own high end console coming up, and sharing their aspirations for its tech, and even concept renders for it, just feels weird. Where are they getting the money to do so?

Speaking on Twitter, Slightly Mad’s CEO Ian Bell noted that three conglomerates are already ready to invest in the development of the machine, which I guess would do it (although it is curious that he’s not willing to share their names right now).

Development for the console will also not break the bank, as Bell promised that making games for the “Mad Box” will be cheap, and that Slightly Mad’s cross platform engine will facilitate easy porting to and from it.

All of it still sounds unlikely, and I am still skeptical, but hey, prove me wrong Slightly Mad.

https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1082500817175773186?s=21

https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1082520850102837248?s=21

With Slightly Mad Studios’ upcoming Mad Box actually seeming to be a thing, for good or for bad, it seems like the company is trying to get people engaged in the marketing for the upcoming product to keep it active on social media. For instance, today, Ian Bell, CEO of Slightly Mad Studios, invited users to come up with a slogan for the Mad Box on Twitter.

And why would you do this? Because apparently, he is offering you $10,000 and a lifetime supply of free games should your slogan be selected. You would think this is a joke, but he seems to have made it very clear that it is not. That said, he also seems to be a fan of slogans like “U Mad, Bro?” judging by his replies, so far be it for me to tell you to not treat this whole charade like a joke.

If you want to learn more about the Mad Box, make sure to check out the mockup of the console.

https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1081791507714125825?s=21

One of the more out-of-the-left-field news stories to have come in recent months has been Slightly Mad Studios abruptly announcing that they will be putting out a brand new console, and that they are already in talks with tech companies regarding its production. Their plans for the console sound incredibly ambitious, and it is extremely bizarre that the developers of Project CARS games, which are very good, but hardly chart topping bestsellers, are apparently attempting a venture so risky.

But they seem to be pushing through with it for now anyway. For instance, on Twitter, Slightly Mad Studios CEO Ian Bell shared a bunch of concept renders for what he hopes the new console will look like (the internals are blurred, because they’re not finalized. The bigger news is that you can see the internals from the outside).

This appears to be very similar to the kind of design language that, for example, Razer uses with its products. I’m sure there are some people in the world who love this. I just… hope this isn’t actually what the final product looks like.

https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1081170180582006785?s=21

Project CARS developers Slightly Mad Studios surprised a great many people when they recently announced that they were working on their own game console. Being called “Mad Box” for now, it’s being billed as a high-end console capable of VR and 4K resolutions, promises to “substantially” raise the bar, and is scheduled to ship within the next 2-3 years. It’s very ambitious, and there’s a healthy amount of skepticism surrounding those ambitions, but regardless of whether or not the skepticism is warranted, it’s definitely intriguing.

And here’s something else that’s interesting- Slightly Mad Studios’ CEO Ian Bell has now also revealed that the studio is in talks with both, AMD and Nvidia for AI processing tech in their hardware. Bell has been quite active on Twitter since announcing the Mad Box on his feed (which was actually his first tweet ever), and this confirmation too came through his Twitter page, in response to a question.

In a separate tweet, Bell also promised that the Mad Box is aiming for seamless VR integration, with VR hardware that is “complete” and also portable enough that you can carry it to your friend’s house, but can also connect it to other Mad Box consoles with the simple click of a button. It’s an interesting prospect, but much like many of the other promises Bell has made about the Mad Box thus far, it remains to be seen whether it’s something that comes to fruition.

Meanwhile, Slightly Mad Studios is still alive and kicking on the software front, in case you’re wondering. Project CARS 3 is currently under development- get more details on the game through here.

https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1081072061773008896

https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1081132965625643008