Infinium Labs, broadband console manufacturer, has secured a new US$50 million credit line from an institutional investor. Infinium are planning to release their new console in the autumn – but there’s still now clues as to what gamers will actually be playing on it.
Infinium have retained HPC Capital Management to evaluate the company’s current and future capital needs. They, of course are confident in the Phantom’s prospects: “Infinium Labs is at the forefront of the revolution in gaming – the move from consoles and PCs to the streaming of a library of titles over broadband networks into the home, to a receiver that sits in the living room and is used by everyone in the family,” Vince Sbarra, President of HPC Capital Management, said in a statement. “We’ve been watching the number of broadband users increase every year. After carefully evaluating the industry, we feel that Infinium Labs represents a significant opportunity to enter this market with a company that has a solid management team that combines the experience of two worlds – executives from networking businesses and senior managers that have previously launched a successful game system.”
The Phantom is now billed as an always on “games receiver” – though no-one has publicly announced any content for it. Their latest brochure talks up the service: “This fall, the dream of being able to purchase any game, at any time, from the comfort of the family room, becomes a reaility.”
Any game? It’s said that the Infinium will run specially packaged PC games that will run without a complex installation and configuration process. The console itself is free, though the service costs US$30 (€24) a month, with premium games costing $5 (€4) for a three day “rental”. At this stage you’d expect Infinium to be creating demand by mentioning things like “Half Life 2” or “Far Cry” but no titles at all are associated with the console.
With an on sale date less than four months away, Infinium had better get a move on in enthusing the public about their content – people aren’t going to subscribe to a new service just because it comes with a free shiny box.
