RobertoOrtiz
08-22-2004, 02:32 AM
Quote:
"Whether the business behind that product can succeed is still in question, especially since the company has no plans for steady, bootstrapped growth but is backed by outside investors who hope for a quick return. Maybe they'll get that return if the company manages to do well with a stock sale (http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040809/95369_1.html) it is planning in the near future. But after that, Infinium may have trouble turning a profit from operations, especially since it faces stiff competition from other game industry entrepreneurs and is likely to face even more competition in the future.
Infinium's current business plan
Infinium president (and former Microsoft Xbox maven) Kevin Bachus (http://www.phantom.net/mediacenter/executive_bios.php) gave the audience an impressive slide-show display that described how Infinium plans to bring a subscription-based game service to households already in the habit of subscribing to HBO, TiVo, NetFlix, satellite radio, and other monthly-pay entertainment services. The primary target market he described was not dedicated young male gamers, but former game addicts who have matured a bit, graduated from college, gotten jobs, and started families. The theory is that this crowd will eagerly bite on a plan that offers games not just for for themselves, but also for Mom and the kids, with parental controls dictating what can and cannot be played. And instead of having to go to the
store to grab one of the 250 or so games offered at any one time by most retailers, these "lapsed gamers," as Kevin called them, will be able to browse thousands of titles from the comfort of their living rooms at any time of the day or night, and be able to download and play any game that catches their eye almost instantly.
The key to the "almost instantly" part of the deal is that Infinium's games will be streamed instead of merely downloaded. That means the first levels of even a complex game will be available for play in moments while the rest of it downloads in the background.
If the downloaded game is a non-premium one you get as part of your basic monthly subscription, it will then be on your Phantom's hard drive, available for full play whenever you like without any delay at all. If it's a "premium" game, all you'll get to play is a little taste until or unless you cough up more money, after which it will download and install on your Phantom unit for complete, unlimited play.
According to printed handouts we got, the anticipated subscription price will be $29.95 per month, and if you sign up for two years the cost of the Phantom "game receiver" unit will be included. There was no word on what games might be included in the basic subscription. When asked, Bachus would not reveal the names of any game publishers or developers that have signed up with Infinium, although he says we'll be getting that information within the next 30 days.
(Note that this is not the first time Infinium has promised to reveal the names of games publishers within a fixed time frame, but none have ever been revealed by the promised date. Perhaps this time things will be different. We'll see.)
In any case, the prime selling feature here is the game delivery system. The box (http://www.phantom.net/products/tech_specs.php), while cute, is essentially a mid-range PC without a CD drive and with enough other features disabled that it's useless for any purpose other than playing games downloaded through the Infinium service. The only thing Infinium has done on the hardware front that is exciting in any way is its custom gamepad input device (http://www.phantom.net/graphics/productsshot02.jpg). It's essentially a keyboard and mouse with the keyboard mounted on an adjustable, tilted pad you can set on your knees, and a mouse pad under the keyboard instead of next to it.
This was the part of the system we looked at and said, "We want that!" Kevin said some of the company's engineers have suggested selling the keyboard assembly as a separate product. We told him we thought that would be a good move; it was the most comfortable "laptop keyboard" we'd ever tried, perfect for computing (or gaming) with your feet up or lounging on a sofa instead of sitting rigidly in front of a desk. But Kevin said Infinium had no current plans to sell their gamepad separately; that it would take too much of the company's resources to bring it to market; and that for the moment Infinium would concentrate on selling subscriptions (and premium games). "
>>Link<< (http://www.itmanagersjournal.com/article.pl?sid=04/08/19/0724255)
-R
"Whether the business behind that product can succeed is still in question, especially since the company has no plans for steady, bootstrapped growth but is backed by outside investors who hope for a quick return. Maybe they'll get that return if the company manages to do well with a stock sale (http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040809/95369_1.html) it is planning in the near future. But after that, Infinium may have trouble turning a profit from operations, especially since it faces stiff competition from other game industry entrepreneurs and is likely to face even more competition in the future.
Infinium's current business plan
Infinium president (and former Microsoft Xbox maven) Kevin Bachus (http://www.phantom.net/mediacenter/executive_bios.php) gave the audience an impressive slide-show display that described how Infinium plans to bring a subscription-based game service to households already in the habit of subscribing to HBO, TiVo, NetFlix, satellite radio, and other monthly-pay entertainment services. The primary target market he described was not dedicated young male gamers, but former game addicts who have matured a bit, graduated from college, gotten jobs, and started families. The theory is that this crowd will eagerly bite on a plan that offers games not just for for themselves, but also for Mom and the kids, with parental controls dictating what can and cannot be played. And instead of having to go to the
store to grab one of the 250 or so games offered at any one time by most retailers, these "lapsed gamers," as Kevin called them, will be able to browse thousands of titles from the comfort of their living rooms at any time of the day or night, and be able to download and play any game that catches their eye almost instantly.
The key to the "almost instantly" part of the deal is that Infinium's games will be streamed instead of merely downloaded. That means the first levels of even a complex game will be available for play in moments while the rest of it downloads in the background.
If the downloaded game is a non-premium one you get as part of your basic monthly subscription, it will then be on your Phantom's hard drive, available for full play whenever you like without any delay at all. If it's a "premium" game, all you'll get to play is a little taste until or unless you cough up more money, after which it will download and install on your Phantom unit for complete, unlimited play.
According to printed handouts we got, the anticipated subscription price will be $29.95 per month, and if you sign up for two years the cost of the Phantom "game receiver" unit will be included. There was no word on what games might be included in the basic subscription. When asked, Bachus would not reveal the names of any game publishers or developers that have signed up with Infinium, although he says we'll be getting that information within the next 30 days.
(Note that this is not the first time Infinium has promised to reveal the names of games publishers within a fixed time frame, but none have ever been revealed by the promised date. Perhaps this time things will be different. We'll see.)
In any case, the prime selling feature here is the game delivery system. The box (http://www.phantom.net/products/tech_specs.php), while cute, is essentially a mid-range PC without a CD drive and with enough other features disabled that it's useless for any purpose other than playing games downloaded through the Infinium service. The only thing Infinium has done on the hardware front that is exciting in any way is its custom gamepad input device (http://www.phantom.net/graphics/productsshot02.jpg). It's essentially a keyboard and mouse with the keyboard mounted on an adjustable, tilted pad you can set on your knees, and a mouse pad under the keyboard instead of next to it.
This was the part of the system we looked at and said, "We want that!" Kevin said some of the company's engineers have suggested selling the keyboard assembly as a separate product. We told him we thought that would be a good move; it was the most comfortable "laptop keyboard" we'd ever tried, perfect for computing (or gaming) with your feet up or lounging on a sofa instead of sitting rigidly in front of a desk. But Kevin said Infinium had no current plans to sell their gamepad separately; that it would take too much of the company's resources to bring it to market; and that for the moment Infinium would concentrate on selling subscriptions (and premium games). "
>>Link<< (http://www.itmanagersjournal.com/article.pl?sid=04/08/19/0724255)
-R