Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[MattPilz]

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

Those are prices for the special editions.  They never changed the price of the cheaper standard editions from $250.  They probably shouldn't release the product if they can't be at $250 or less.

 

The "cheaper standard editions" aren't available at all, even for free pre-orders on their website and there is no indication they will ever re-introduce them as an option again. The only choices are woodgrain or purple, and the minimum $289.99 for those only includes a single controller. The only $250 price points left would be the few thousand (if that) who have locked in a pre-order from 1-3 years ago.

 

Offering any Amico system with just a single controller defies the underlying promotional points of Amico that it is the first console in decades(if we ignore the Joycons on Switch which double as two controllers in many games) to include two controllers and was built for two, including with its core design and docking area.

[SegaSnatcher]

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

Those are prices for the special editions.  They never changed the price of the cheaper standard editions from $250.  They probably shouldn't release the product if they can't be at $250 or less.

They dropped the cheaper SKUs.  There is no $249.99 SKU anymore. 

[MrBeefy]

4 hours ago, MattPilz said:

The "cheaper standard editions" aren't available at all, even for free pre-orders on their website and there is no indication they will ever re-introduce them as an option again. The only choices are woodgrain or purple, and the minimum $289.99 for those only includes a single controller. The only $250 price points left would be the few thousand (if that) who have locked in a pre-order from 1-3 years ago.

 

Offering any Amico system with just a single controller defies the underlying promotional points of Amico that it is the first console in decades(if we ignore the Joycons on Switch which double as two controllers in many games) to include two controllers and was built for two, including with its core design and docking area.

 

4 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

They dropped the cheaper SKUs.  There is no $249.99 SKU anymore. 

 

You are both correct. $290 is the cheap SKU. Purple and turdgrain were more common so they ran with those.

 

It is funny that fewer people wanted the cheaper version. It really shows that it was just the retro collectors interested in it. Really the differences in paint shouldn't affect the price. Iirc none of the color variations of the Switch cost any differently than the black model. But Nintendo is more interested in selling hardware than shells.

 

[MrBeefy]

New video from NSG

This video pairs well with it IMO.

 

[Matt_B]

The price is neither here nor there when they can't even make them.

 

I dare say that their cavalier attitudes towards financing, engineering and spending generally rather forced them into a corner where the price would have to be so high and the break even number so large that it'd end up making more sense to not produce any of them.

 

Had they gone into it thinking in terms of selling maybe 20K units at $150 at most, to cover its development costs, we'd have been looking at a very different console. It might have been one with a chance of getting into production though.

[MattPilz]

49 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Really the differences in paint shouldn't affect the price.

Offering multiple styles always felt like a sales tactic to boost overall pre-orders from the "gotta collect them all" sector. And indeed many of the retro enthusiasts and OG Intellivision fans made multiple pre-orders to get the various varieties, some have three or more pre-orders still in queue of the various exclusives and colors.

 

But from a business perspective I imagine it also complicates the entire production. Suddenly they need to handle multiple production runs with multiple pilot plastics and unique characteristics that, as a small operation without a single product out the door, probably gets prohibitively time-consuming and expensive. A single "woodgrain" style would've proved popular enough and indeed was the top selling and what they made the original pilot plastics based on... Woodgrain also appeals to the 70s-80s retro crowd in particular, even if I know now the system isn't made for retro fans like myself   

[Wayler]

31 minutes ago, MattPilz said:

Offering multiple styles always felt like a sales tactic to boost overall pre-orders from the "gotta collect them all" sector. And indeed many of the retro enthusiasts and OG Intellivision fans made multiple pre-orders to get the various varieties, some have three or more pre-orders still in queue of the various exclusives and colors.

Many eons ago... 

[SteveTheColecoDude]

[Matt_B]

If only it was as cheap and easy to change the colour of a plastic moulding as it is a render.

 

[MrBeefy]

5 minutes ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

If Tommy says something, it's a lie. You will do better percentage wise to just assume he lies 100%. When he said they have 50 games "in development", I'm sure it's a very similar story to that one.

 

I think he thought he was such a big boy that people would flock to make stuff for Amico. 🙄

[Rev]

1 hour ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

Its getting to the point if it was said its raining outside, you would have to look outside the window to make sure what he said was true. 

[Razzie.P]

14 minutes ago, Rev said:

Its getting to the point if it was said its raining outside, you would have to look outside the window to make sure what he said was true. 

And if it was actually raining, we'd kinda have to be like "yeah, the weather's fucking with me, too..."

[+madman]

I'm trying to catch up on this, so they bought an office and 6 figures of office furniture while having nothing to sell? Intellivision = Entertainment 720?

 

[mr_me]

6 hours ago, MattPilz said:

Offering multiple styles always felt like a sales tactic to boost overall pre-orders from the "gotta collect them all" sector. And indeed many of the retro enthusiasts and OG Intellivision fans made multiple pre-orders to get the various varieties, some have three or more pre-orders still in queue of the various exclusives and colors.

 

But from a business perspective I imagine it also complicates the entire production. Suddenly they need to handle multiple production runs with multiple pilot plastics and unique characteristics that, as a small operation without a single product out the door, probably gets prohibitively time-consuming and expensive. A single "woodgrain" style would've proved popular enough and indeed was the top selling and what they made the original pilot plastics based on... Woodgrain also appeals to the 70s-80s retro crowd in particular, even if I know now the system isn't made for retro fans like myself   

Some retailers like to have an exclusive version.

[MarioMan88]

9 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Some retailers like to have an exclusive version.

Retailers like to have an actual product 😆

[MattPilz]

5 hours ago, Matt_B said:

If only it was as cheap and easy to change the colour of a plastic moulding as it is a render.

Easily solved if they would've had the foresight to make a singular base system that supported snap-in plastic skins, probably much more profitable long-term. Could contract with existing phone case manufacturers or print-on-demand type services.

 

@CurlyQ already did the impressive work of imagining this as a reality! Could see special skins for games, partnerships, events, holidays, customs. Maybe even deluxe ones that did special things in combination with the LEDs. I'd buy some for $20 each, well... If I had an Amico.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[roots.genoa]

9 hours ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

Wait, what? Are you telling me Tommy lied? 😱

 

 

To be fair, when that kind of person mentions the "original team", he often means the publisher that owns the rights to the game. The creator of the Worms might not be working for Team17 anymore.

That being said, I suspect Tommy was speaking with neither of them. 🙂

[SegaSnatcher]

13 hours ago, Matt_B said:

I dare say that their cavalier attitudes towards financing, engineering and spending generally rather forced them into a corner where the price would have to be so high and the break even number so large that it'd end up making more sense to not produce any of them.

Agreed, at this point I'm not sure why they would even bother.  There is no saving the brand reputation at this point. 

[Pink]

3 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Wait, what? Are you telling me Tommy lied? 😱

 

 

To be fair, when that kind of person mentions the "original team", he often means the publisher that owns the rights to the game. The creator of the Worms might not be working for Team17 anymore.

That being said, I suspect Tommy was speaking with neither of them. 🙂

I didn't look too hard but couldn't find out if Andy Davidson (Worms creator) is still at Team17 or not, but that being said I did see this form at the Team17 website though, hahahaha maybe this is what Tommy meant when he said that he had a proposal on his desk 🤣

Submit - Team17 Digital LTD - The Spirit Of Independent Games

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Pink

[mr_me]

10 hours ago, MarioMan88 said:

Retailers like to have an actual product 😆

Doesn't matter now but the purple exclusive was part of the deal with Gamestop.

[MattPilz]

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

Doesn't matter now but the purple exclusive was part of the deal with Gamestop.

Yes, a planned exclusive that is now just a standard option on their own website.

So in light of knowing now that they no longer have any $250 price-point Amico, and that the minimum cost would be $290 with a single controller (~$310 with tax) or $340 for an actual two controller set (~$360 with tax). You agree that it is highly impractical for them to even entertain the idea of releasing for such a price.

[+5-11under]

That's a whole lot of money for a whole lot of nothing.

[MarioMan88]

2 hours ago, mr_me said:

Doesn't matter now but the purple exclusive was part of the deal with Gamestop.

I actually liked the purple one. Lost in all this is the fact I would probably collected every color.

[roots.genoa]

Usually I pick white (when having to choose between black and white) but red is my favorite color so I would have clearly picked the GTO Red. Of course it had to be the sole model that was never available anywhere. Not that it matters a lot now...

[Rev]

2 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Usually I pick white (when having to choose between black and white) but red is my favorite color so I would have clearly picked the GTO Red. Of course it had to be the sole model that was never available anywhere. Not that it matters a lot now...

GTO Red?  We know a fanboy when we see one!  You also going to slap a Ferrari sticker on it and spoon it at night?  
 

🤔