Phantom: The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled

[agentgray]

Gamespot is reporting (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6144631.html) that Infinium Labs is hurting for cash and it looks like the Phantom is no more. However, they still plan to market and sell the Phantom Lapboard.

Last month, the company announced an arrangement for $5 million in funding from Golden Gate Investors. As part of that agreement, Infinium has filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing the company's unprofitable past and laying out its game plan for the future.

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).
And "poof", they were gone.

[agentgray]

I just wanted to point out 65 million in losses!

What!?!

Some people got rich somewhere.

[Maskatron]

What a scam. I can't really feel sorry for the investors though. Who really thought this was a good idea?

[Snipee]

Wow, I dont really know what to say about this...I was always iffy along with everyone else as to if the phantom would ever see the light of day. Yet we still dont know for sure...

[Grimmjow]

phantom huh?

[Evil Avatar]

Who really thought this was a good idea?

Gametap, Nintendo and Microsoft (Xbox Live 360) thought this was a fantastic idea. That is why all three companies have done it sooner and better.

I never put any stock in the idea myself, because I'm not all that much into retro games (I think they are awesome, but I only play them for about 15 minutes at a pop and then I move on to a new game again.), but the idea of selling downloadable retro games has been a been a big success on Xbox Live 360, it seems to be a success on the PC with Gametap and Nintendo has sold their older titles for a whopping $30.00 a pop on the Gameboy Advance and plans to offer them on the Revolution.

The idea was good, it was just that the Phantom couldn't pull it together.

[Schnoogs]

So when do we get a similar announcement from Sony?

[CrashCart]

Nice reference to the Usual Suspects, agentgray.

As for Infinium Labs, I'm just waiting for them to truly disappear forever. Whenever I see a post here with their name in the title, it's pretty safe to assume it's not going to contain good news about the company. More like than not, it will contain news about some other investor throwing their money into the Infinium Labs trashcan, though.

[LilBunnyFuFu]

This is the way the Phantom ends
Not with a bang, but a whimper.

[DirtyChimp]

Oh no! Now what will I play Duke Nukem Forever on?!

Clearly the market is only big enough for one Phantom game console, and the PS3 pretty much has that covered.

[AntB]

There were people out there that thought that Phantom would actually succeed? Ha.

Consoles succeed by offering bleeding edge technology that costs 500-700$ to manufacture for $400 or less. That's how you get peoples attention. A startup cannot possibly enter this market. And even most well established corporations can't.

[Zanzibar]

Clearly the market is only big enough for one Phantom game console, and the PS3 pretty much has that covered.

Got all kinds of goofy looks from my co-workers when I started cackling at this line. Thanks a lot.

[overdrivechao]

/cheer

I am all for competition, but don't be stupid.

[emperordahc]

Not one drop of pity for investors. This was a joke from day one. (And I said so, too!)

[Wyrm]

Cannot believe there was a following behind this thing. I browsed their forums at one point, and got banned breifly there after, because I said that the console would never actually come out. Huh. Guess I was dead on...

[ruprect]

Wow, only 3.5 to development, and a majority of the money going to advertising something that doesn't even exist. That should be illegal.

I'm all for a company generating hype, but for god sakes. . . looking at where all the money went its very clear this was a con job thought up by a few people to get some large salaries for a few years. Great work if you can get it I guess, if you have no morals.

Hell, the people there may have even convinced themselves it would happen. . . just so they could sleep at night and use the money they were getting with a clear conscience.

As far as the investors go, they got what they deserved.

[Sl1pstream]

I guess I'll buy the lapboard thing. If it's cheap enough. Other than that, what's a phantom?

[Sloth]

I think a 67 million dollar loss is a pretty big bang. I think the lessons learned here will not soon be forgotten.

[agentgray]

I think a 67 million dollar loss is a pretty big bang. I think the lessons learned here will not soon be forgotten.
What lesson? They had to file these numbers as a result of another investor giving them a couple million dollars!

[Nite_Moogle]

The Suprise-O-Meter registers nothing on this news.

[PixelSamurai]

How did the fool and his money even get together in the first place?

[mpsmith]

Isn't the news of the keyboard thing several months old? I thought this had been the case for quite some time. Or maybe they were considering it. Anyone remember?

[Mortis]

I'm down with the lapboard.

[Atorak]

I guess I'll have to settle for a PS3 now.

[fitbabits]

I guess I'll have to settle for a PS3 now.
The PhantomStation 3? :rolleyes:

[Mrbunchypants]

So I'm starting this console company called "G.M.A.Y.M.".... And I have this idea for a console... I am going to call it "Mirage".

I'm going to need about 40Million from you guys so start sending me money. :p


If only I really could sell that idea to someone.

[DeadPixel]

http://www.ne2.com/images/phantom.jpg

Damn!! I never got my special edition.

[Evil_SPanKY]

You know, this thread and title made me think of that song in the movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" with the fiddle player.

You know, the scene with the crowd of people as they march the captured George "Babyface" Nelson through town, and the whole congregation is dancing and such.

/Fiddle_musak = ON

Good times!

[outontheporch]

Where are the people dumb enough to invest in this?

I've got a wonderful bit of the moon to sell them...soon to be beach front property when the moon decatalizes.

[Klade]

I am of course not surprised. As Evil said, the concept was a great idea. But in my opinion it was their implementation that was horrible. Other companies have decided that there exists a software library large enough to warrant some kind of direct feed service. But phantom didn't just want to provide you with a service, they wanted to provide you with a very expensive piece of hardware to play games on your TV when they were never designed to work on your TV.

Add to that a very expensive monthly fee, and an advertising scheme designed from the ground up to alienate their most vocal audience (established hardcore gamers), and you have a plan that was doomed to fail. And everyone knew it of course, thats why no one cares about the investors, cause they should have known it as well.

[Mephistopheles]

I think a 67 million dollar loss is a pretty big bang. I think the lessons learned here will not soon be forgotten.

Lessons won't be learned this time like they weren't the previous times. HardOCP did a write up on the Phantom and Roberts a while back, detailing his colourful business history. Guess it bit a little close to the bone as Infinium tried to sue HardOCP for it but, much like their other venture, they failed.

Almost makes you wonder if this kind of investment is some kind of tax write off for the investors a la investing in a Uwe Boll production. Just hard for me to believe that the investors can have so much money yet employ such inept researchers.

[Sensei-X]

So I take it the big cheese paid himself 60 million to post on message boards and called it advertising.

[jwbxx]

Noooooooooooooooooooo

[GunnyMo]

11.9 Million in salaries. That is my favorite part right there. Too bad I suck at math and economics and, oh yeah, am an honest person or I'd be all over raping people for their money like Infinium did. Good ol' PT Barnum: There's a sucker born every minute.

[MaiXu]

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.

Advertising for shit that isn't even available for sale. Something's fishy there. I'm pretty sure millions of dollars went into the pockets of the crooks that started the company and were written off as some garbage like "focus group testing" or "competition research." You know, like buying HDTVs and 360s, all in the name of Infinium.

Anyway, I'm glad to see them go. They were a joke before they even started (what with the name), and they just became more and more inane as time went on. I only wish the idiots that fell for the sales pitch for venture capital could be paraded in the streets.

[Bubby]

[H]ard OCP more or less proved 100% that this company was a scam from its inception. Lawsuits were threatened etc and [H]ard OCP stood by their investigation and didn't remove the story. That tells ya something...

[Citizen Philip]

[H]ard OCP more or less proved 100% that this company was a scam from its inception. Lawsuits were threatened etc and [H]ard OCP stood by their investigation and didn't remove the story. That tells ya something...

Yes, that Sony haters will throw down their comments at the drop of a hat in totally unrelated threads.

I hope that hot console hatred puts the spring into your step on those cold mornings, knowing you can come to a message board and release your load: since you have nothing else to to think about.

---

As far as this story is concerned, no surprise. Reminds me of the whole dot-com craze, except this time everyone knew it was a scam but did it anyways. No sympathy.

[Mr_Snuffle]

This should never have been a hardware product, they should have created an online distribution system ala Steam.

Also, more like FAGtom! AM I RITE!

*cough*

[easi]

I hope [H]ard OCP stay on that bastard's ass and follow him to whatever scam shell company he sets up next.