Project Cars dev announces “Mad Box”console

Slightly Mad Studios has announced they are working on a new console to compete with Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.

The Project Cars developer claims the “Mad Box” will be a high end system capable of running games in 4K at up to 120fps. It will also support most VR headsets at 60fps per eye. The company will be providing their in-house Madness Engine free of charge to any developer making games for the system.

In an interview with Variety, CEO Ian Bell says he’s looking to keep the system as open as possible. In regards to exclusives, Bell says the company is leaving it up to developers. “As of now we have no plans to pay developers ‘incentives’ to exclude other hardware vendors.”

The company says they are already in talks with hardware vendors, and Bell expects the Mad Box to release world wide in about three years time. So far, the company has not hinted on the console’s specs or pricing.

The announcement certainly came out of left field. Slightly Mad Studios has been making games for about a decade now, but has no experience developing, marketing, or selling hardware. Something which puts them at a distinct disadvantage when going up against existing platforms.

It’s been 18 years now since a new player has taken a serious stab at the console race. Even then, the Xbox took several years to find its footing, and that was with the backing of industry giant Microsoft. A small company like Slightly Mad might be able to secure the necessary venture capital and find a factory in China to make the systems, but there’s a lot more to selling consoles than that.

Even with free development tools, it’s going to take a lot of relationship building to get the larger studios to adopt the platform.
Otherwise they’re just going to end up with an expensive indie box.

Games sell consoles, not the other way around. Without compelling software, the Mad Box will likely be dead in the water. Yet this seems to be of low concern for slightly Mad, who is choosing to leave things up to publishers. Much like was done with the Ouya and PS Vita, and look how well things panned out for them.

Three years is a long time though. Maybe, just maybe Slightly Mad is just mad enough to pull it off. Though I don’t expect the Mad Box to be taking over from the existing titans anytime soon.