Infinium Labs has officially announced that it is moving the launch of its Phantom Game Service to 2005, following
the announcement of the Phantom console's publishing partners earlier this week. The subscription-based service, in which consumers would purchase PC-based 'console' hardware and then receive software on demand, was originally scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2004.
According to an official statement released by the company: "The decision comes at the request of both its retail and marketing partners, who have told the company they want more time to plan promotional and merchandising activities for the new games-on-demand service."
Former Microsoft executive and current Infinium president Kevin Bachus elaborated further on the reasons for this delay: "Retailers gear their 4th quarter holiday promotions around gift-giving opportunities, and they feel, as we do, that our service will not be bought primarily as a 'gift' for someone else." The company also insisted that its financial stability would not be impacted by this delay.