Intellivision Lays off Employees and Licenses out IP in desperate bid to save Amico

[Leynos]

Mandalore76 said:

SanAndreasX said:

This flat-out wasn't a good idea. Tallarico was ultimately marketing this to himself, to a market that doesn't really exist. None of those other machines were good ideas, either.

That doesn't mean you're wrong on the rest of it. Sega, for instance, would have a tough time breaking back into the market, even with a strong financial backer, a full-throated tech push to at least give it parity with the Switch that it can't really afford without said financial backing, and Sonic to help sell the system. The Amico was a complete disaster. Nothing could have saved it.

Agree.  And asking families to plunk down $249 up front just for a system that could handle these types of games was a horrible ask.  The initial reveal in 2017 had the price point expected to be $149-$179.  Which would have actually positioned it in a good place to be a holiday impulse buy for families.  But by April 2020, the price had suddenly ballooned to $249 for white Amico and $279 for woodgrain.  Which at that point, you're asking for more than a Switch Lite costs, and might as well consider a standard Switch or XBox Series S.  The inflated costs makes more sense when you factor in that $100 off each of the first 8,000 console sales needed to go directly to paying back an $810,000 loan.

Amico supporters would lash out when the games shown off were said to be "mobile game quality".  But some of the games being featured as Amico games, already existed on mobile.  It was extremely ironic to watch people say they were excited to get a $249 Amico so that they could then buy a $9.99 download of an Evel Knievel game, which already existed as a $1.99 app on their phone since 2015.  Where was all this excitement for the same Evel Knievel game over half a decade ago?

The console is now $340. https://www.gamingconviction.com/intellivision-amico-receives-price-increase/