The last we saw of Intellivision’s Amico console was it trying to sell some NFTs and was described as a “car crash” of a device. However, if you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the ailing device, you haven’t paid attention to its development.
Zack has already written extensively about thisbut as a reminder:
- Public frontman and former CEO Tommy Tallarico has openly insulted critics, calling them “gaming racists” and “mentally unstable” while amid regular shitposting and baseless legal threats, he has been found following several notable white supremacists on Twitter.
- As GI.biz reported the company is in serious financial difficultieswith an SEC filing earlier this year showing they had “substantial debt,” including “a total of $3.1 million in outstanding loans.”
- The hardware of the console is basically the same as a $100 Android phone from 2016. running games that look like absolute dog shitincluding a port of a mobile game released in 2015.
- The console has now been delayed several times. Originally coming out in October 2020, it was then pushed back to April 2021, then October 2021, and the June 2022 release is obviously nowhere near.
- This official “unboxing” video (which was supposed to look like a final retail console but was actually a one-off production as manufacturing hasn’t started yet) released in March exposes so many of the console’s issues. From the ghastly menu to the cheap controllers, this looks like something you’d buy on Wish for $20, which would be fine if it was $20, but Intellivision is charging at least $180 for it one of what is crazy:
However, this is just a summary. The news today is that the company had to email its pre-order customers to let them know things aren’t going so well. Intellivision had to cancel a $5M crowdfunding campaign after raising only $60,000, attempted to license Intellivision IP for release on other platforms to raise some money, had so many refund requests that they… Unable to process quickly enough and most alarmingly of all the layoffs, resulting in “a significant downsizing”. The full email, signed by new CEO Phil Adam and first posted by The Nerf Report Bryant Chappel, is below:
Regards,
It’s been a while since our last official update and thank you for your patience. I hope this update on the state of Intellivision will answer some of your questions and explain where we are and where we are going. When I took on the position of CEO of Intellivision, my leadership goal required some tough decisions to ensure we were bringing a quality product to market.
1. We stopped our investment campaign on StartEngine a few weeks after it launched in February this year. Without better visibility on our path to profitability, we felt this was the right decision in the short term. All funds pledged by StartEngine investors as part of the campaign have been fully refunded. Of course, this required other financial measures to compensate for the missed new investments.
2. We drastically reduced operating costs, which unfortunately required a significant reduction in staff. Our resources are focused on engineering and testing to ensure we have a quality system in place as we cannot be successful by producing less.
3. We work with game development partners to license classic Intellivision Intellectual Property (IPs) for release on other platforms. These licensing deals will help fund Amico’s continued development. Wider adoption of Intellivision’s classic IP will also help raise awareness of Intellivision without directly competing with Amico due to Amico’s unique controllers and family-centric gameplay customizations. Many people in the retro gaming community have embraced us because of our family focus and the fact that all of our games (including retro titles) are suitable for group play. While Amico’s broad catalog will continue to feature retro titles, our mission has been and continues to be cross-generational family entertainment for the home.
4. We have started a test production run of Amico, covering every aspect of the product including the packaging. This is primarily an assessment of our manufacturing process and the overall quality of the product supplied. It is crucial to demonstrate to our current/prospective investors, partners and customers that we have built a solid platform that supports the family experience at home, which requires our immediate focus on value creation and platform hardening. These units are expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
5. We are slow in processing refund requests. The public’s uncertainty regarding our status over the past few months has understandably led to a surge in pre-order refund requests. Due to the reduced personnel and financing requirements for continued operation, our responses to and processing of these inquiries have been delayed. Rest assured that it is our intention to honor all refund requests. We will devote a portion of all new funds and staff time to handling the refund queue while our primary focus is on financing and completing a quality product ready for production. To ensure we see your request, please send it to [email protected]
6. We will focus our initial mass production on fulfilling pre-orders and supplying our two main distributors. The focus will remain on direct orders until our cost structure can support the margins required for retail channels. Obviously markets remain somewhat volatile with rising inflation, rising energy costs and ongoing supply chain issues affecting all manufacturing companies. This has impacted both our costs and pricing, forcing us to narrow our initial distribution strategy. We hope to start shipping production units later this year.
The Company faces many challenges and we thank our investors, partners and customers for their patience and support. We will soon be officially announcing some new IP licensing partnerships and showing off the Amico units currently in production. These units are shared with partners, investors and a select few in the media. As more production units become available, we will expand distribution to media companies that serve our target demographic.
Thank you for your support and thank you to our in-house team and external developers who work tirelessly to create a family gaming experience on Amico that brings people of different ages and abilities together in group play
Phil Adam
chairman
Not a good sight!