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It looks like this PS5 and Xbox Scarlett rival is dead in the water

01/12/2019

Earlier this year, we heard about a console that was set to rival the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Scarlett, the Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia: the 'Mad Box'.

The console, which promised to be “the most powerful console ever built”, was supposed to be the rival of all the major players and offer gamers an alternative machine to play if they didn't fancy 'one of the big three'.

The console, which was in development by the Project Cars 2 developer Slightly Mad Studios, was poised to offer 4K visuals, support “most major VR headsets” and allow up to 90 frames-per-second per eye” for virtual reality – a massive promise indeed!

It seems like it was too good to be true, though.

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The last we heard of the console came at the start of 2019, and since then there has been radio silence about the hardware from its creators.

In April 2019, Slightly Mad Studios withdrew the trademark for Mad Box console, seemingly because a French company had contested Slightly Mad's claim to the name (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz ).

A French casual games studio (called, unsurprisingly, Madbox) argued there "exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public."

Since then, there has been nothing from Slight Mad about the console.

The company did make headlines this week, however, but for slightly different reasons.

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British racing game developer Codemasters announced the acquisition of Slightly Mad Studios on Thursday this week.

With the announcement, Codemasters adds the Project Cars series to its library of IP (meaning it'll join the likes of Dirt, Grid and the F1 games).

Though there has been no update on the status of the Mad Box due to this takeover, it's highly likely that the venture has been shelved – at least for now – and the vague '2022' release date initially outlined by the company is probably not going to materialise.

We'll update you with more information as it becomes available.