Even though it has only been a few months since Slightly Mad Studios announced their ambitious console, proverbial bumps in the road seem to be slowly but surely mounting, and the dev will have to come up with a name other than Mad Box.
Having filed the trademark Mad Box just after New Year's, Slightly Mad Studios ended up withdrawing it on 25 March 2019, after a French studio going by the name Madbox argued that similarities are bound to cause confusion.
This means that the announced Mad Box won't be called that when it arrives. Provided it arrives at all, of course, of which we're not 100 per cent sure anymore.
Back when they first announced the Mad Box, Slightly Mad's CEO Ian Bell insisted that finances are not the issue, with apparently ready to invest in it.
However, it was pretty clear that Slighty Mad are barely past the concept stage, as their initial futuristic Mad Box designs were replaced with much more elegant, not to mention viable, designs.
The developer teased too, but we haven't heard much since. In fact, Bell's last mention of the console is dated 06 March 2019, when he chose the console's slogan.
So, Mad Box's pickup line is "Commit Yourself" and interestingly, the winner gave away his 10K reward to charity. That, however, was well before the name withdrawal, and we're yet to hear of any developments since then.
For what it's worth, Slightly Mad seemed to have the right idea when it comes to timing, aiming to catch PlayStation and Xbox at the end of their life cycles, but with Google coming in with recently, the console market is getting a bit crowded.
Add to that the fact that many predict the end of traditional consoles with the next gen, so we're not sure whether Slightly Mad should really commit themselves right away.
Slightly Mad Studios
Not long after Stadia's announcement, Microsoft rolled out their , which is basically an attractively priced disc-less Xbox that comes with four preinstalled games, and yet another obstacle to making the Mad Box a reality.
The Mad Box, upcoming console by Slightly Mad Studios
- Image: 1 / 6
