Directional Pad

Infinium finally gives in: Phantom officially “on hold”

This may sadly be the last we hear from Infinium Labs for awhile. We love Infinium Labs, because they somehow have managed to fail so completely in such a wide variety of ways, but still always kept their heads just barely above water. And they never went away completely. They never turtled up like 3d Realms with Duke Nukem Forever, they always kept coming up with some tidbit of ridiculous stuff to remind us they're still alive and that the Phantom is totally going to revolutionize the universe.

But they've apparently given up that dream so they can get some cash.

See, the problem with running a company with a business plan based entirely around "mooching off easily misguided investors" is that you need to find and hang-onto a steady stream of said easily misguided investors. That well ran dry for Infinium Labs about a year ago. So now they're desperate, incredibly in debt, and have nothing to sell because I'm rather sure that selling things was never really the idea.

Somehow, last month they struck a deal with some shady investment group that was willing to send $5M their direction, but in exchange Infinium would have to come clean and file a prospectus that was actually based in reality. In an even more shocking turn of events, it looks like Infinium actually followed through.

As for how the company plans to reverse its fortunes, the prospectus indicates that, for now, the company is backing off of its Phantom Game Service and focusing on getting its Phantom Lapboard peripheral to market.

"We are developing and seeking to commercialize the Phantom Lapboard, a wireless, rotating custom keyboard/turntable with integrated mousepad," the prospectus reads. "After establishing the Phantom Lapboard, we may seek to develop and commercialize the Phantom Game Service."

And while Infinium has announced a second-quarter release for the Phantom Lapboard, the prospectus suggests that might not happen and is quite dependent on the company's attempts to secure more funding.

So, the Phantom is officially back-burnered, the almost-entirely-irrelevant Phantom Lapboard is slated for Q2 2006 but may well not make it until much later this year [if at all], and Infinium is so deep in debt that it would take at least sixteen distinct miracles for them to get either product our the door. I think it's safe to say they're done. They will be missed, but not for reasons they would have wished.

Source: Gamespot

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