Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[Cebus Capucinis]

Small businesses often overlook the importance of effective business planning prior to opening their doors. A sound business plan should include, at a minimum:

 

A clear description of the business

Current and future employee and management needs

Opportunities and threats within the broader market

Capital needs, including projected cash flow and various budgets

Marketing initiatives

Competitor analysis

 

Business owners who fail to address the needs of the business through a well-laid-out plan before operations begin are setting up their companies for serious challenges. Similarly, a business that does not regularly review an initial business plan—or one that is not prepared to adapt to changes in the market or industry—meets potentially insurmountable obstacles throughout the course of its lifetime.

 

To avoid pitfalls associated with business plans, entrepreneurs should have a solid understanding of their industry and competition before starting a company. A company’s specific business model and infrastructure should be established long before products or services are offered to customers, and potential revenue streams should be realistically projected well in advance. Creating and maintaining a business plan is key to running a successful company for the long term.

[Wayler]

13 minutes ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

A sound business plan should include, at a minimum:

A clear description of the business - A family and/or retro game console that is not for you. Done. 

 

Current and future employee and management needs - 600 years of experience. Done. 

 

Opportunities and threats within the broader market - There is no broader market beyond 3 billion casual gamers. Done. 

 

Capital needs, including projected cash flow and various budgets. - Lots of money. Done. 

 

Marketing initiatives - The marketing has not yet begun. Skip. 

 

Competitor analysis - Nintendo = rape games. Done. 

 

 

Ok guys, what's for lunch? 

[Cebus Capucinis]

Business owners often fail to prepare for the marketing needs of a company in terms of capital required, prospect reach, and accurate conversion-ratio projections. When companies underestimate the total cost of early marketing campaigns, it can be difficult to secure financing or redirect capital from other business departments to make up for the shortfall.

 

Because marketing is a crucial aspect of any early-stage business, it is necessary for companies to ensure that they have established realistic budgets for current and future marketing needs.

 

Similarly, having realistic projections in terms of target audience reach and sales conversion ratios is critical to marketing campaign success. Businesses that do not understand these aspects of sound marketing strategies are more likely to fail than companies that take the time to create and implement cost-effective, successful campaigns.

 

(Okay, that's the last one. I saved the best for last!)

[MrBeefy]

Last is best. Tommy strove to be last to release a console. He never loses.

 

[Matt_B]

I'd say that the marketing was in place from day one. It's just that the product that was being promoted was Tommy Tallarico rather than the Amico.

[Flojomojo]

12 hours ago, kevtris said:

Also, to beat the certification horse some more, their engineers claimed they "would pass" the testing on their second go, but this means nothing because they would've had to actually get it tested a second time to pass.  We know they didn't.  Their word means nothing, simply because you cannot self-certify, and it doesn't pass until it's tested.  Full stop.  I don't care what they said. 

Thank you for saying this. I think it obliterates the "reasonable doubt" that a few people were trying to conjure. 

 

[Cebus Capucinis]

5 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

I'd say that the marketing was in place from day one. It's just that the product that was being promoted was Tommy Tallarico rather than the Amico.

Hilariously enough, the marketing plan was equally as successful no matter which product you consider!

[Matt_B]

13 minutes ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

Hilariously enough, the marketing plan was equally as successful no matter which product you consider!

I never said it was a good plan!

 

I'd think you could consider it a thorough debunking of the idea that "all publicity is good publicity" though.

[jhd]

11 hours ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

To help a small business manage common financing hurdles, business owners should first establish a realistic budget for company operations and be willing to provide some capital from their own coffers during the startup or expansion phase.

 

It is imperative to research and secure financing options from multiple outlets before the funding is actually necessary. When the time comes to obtain funding, business owners should already have a variety of sources they can tap for capital.

 

I was recently reading about a Canadian property development firm that managed to secure mortgages for something like 125% of the total value of the property that was slated to be developed. Thus the firm was not required to invest/risk to any of the owners money. Sadly, not unlike the Amigo, the project failed with no development having actually occurred. 

[Spriggy]

15 hours ago, kevtris said:

Also, to beat the certification horse some more, their engineers claimed they "would pass" the testing on their second go, but this means nothing because they would've had to actually get it tested a second time to pass.  We know they didn't.  Their word means nothing, simply because you cannot self-certify, and it doesn't pass until it's tested.  Full stop.  I don't care what they said. 

 

 

2 hours ago, jhd said:

Sadly, not unlike the Amigo, the project failed with no development having actually occurred. 

Smoke and mirrors baby.  Smoke and mirrors!

 

[Spriggy]

This all reminds me of this old chestnut .....

 

Although it's more like .....

 

 

[MrBeefy]

4 hours ago, Matt_B said:

I never said it was a good plan!

 

I'd think you could consider it a thorough debunking of the idea that "all publicity is good publicity" though.

I think people tried to warn him of that. Oh well he had the DATA to suggest otherwise.

[roots.genoa]

17 hours ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

A primary reason why small businesses fail is a lack of funding or working capital.

The irony is they may have shot themselves in the foot claiming there would never be any crowdfunding. They tried to fund the Amico as an established company would but, these days, A LOT of startup companies use crowdfunding. A lot of people hate that but it often works; even for the VCS it did. IE kinda did with the pre-orders, but it was "only" a $100 deposit - maybe they felt they couldn't ask for the full amount because they knew the price would rise again.

So when they really started to launch several crowdfunding campaigns, it was too late; they lost their credibility by doing what they said they wouldn't, and they probably had already spent money from the pre-orders, and from the previous campaigns each time they launched a new one. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that if they had launched just ONE campaign with a large goal from the get-go, they wouldn't have faced that many problems, at least financially speaking...

 

Because then, there's also the poor management and the lack of software as Kevtris mentioned (not necessarily games, but the firmware, especially with that kind of controllers). Tommy bashed the Wii U countless times, but Nintendo's developers had to work very hard to compress data so when you push a button on the GamePad, the signal is sent to the console that creates a 480p display that it sends back to the GamePad instantly. The bomb game video proved the Amico was not able to do that properly.

[MrBeefy]

7 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

The irony is they may have shot themselves in the foot claiming there would never be any crowdfunding. They tried to fund the Amico as an established company would but, these days, A LOT of startup companies use crowdfunding. A lot of people hate that but it often works; even for the VCS it did. IE kinda did with the pre-orders, but it was "only" a $100 deposit - maybe they felt they couldn't ask for the full amount because they knew the price would rise again.

So when they really started to launch several crowdfunding campaigns, it was too late; they lost their credibility by doing what they said they wouldn't, and they probably had already spent money from the pre-orders, and from the previous campaigns each time they launched a new one. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that if they had launched just ONE campaign with a large goal from the get-go, they wouldn't have faced that many problems, at least financially speaking...

 

Because then, there's also the poor management and the lack of software as Kevtris mentioned (not necessarily games, but the firmware, especially with that kind of controllers). Tommy bashed the Wii U countless times, but Nintendo's developers had to work very hard to compress data so when you push a button on the GamePad, the signal is sent to the console that creates a 480p display that it sends back to the GamePad instantly. The bomb game video proved the Amico was not able to do that properly.

I think if they would have done one big campaign, this would have been shut down in 2019. Despite a few articles, the evidence suggest they only ever got 6000ish of consoles pre-ordered. (Amicade I think has over 6000 downloads now 🤣)

 

That would have been hard for them to continue. The route they went made it easier for them to say it was all good. Not to mention they don't have to refund Republic crowdfunding.

 

The controller has always shown some type of lag. Whether it is lag from input or screen. Farkle was a joke with lag. Then they lie saying it's for "traveling from cup to screen". What is sad is that there are idiots who bought that.

 

I guess the magical scissors were traveling to the screen in bomb squad to snip the wires.

[Rowsdower70]

BBG decided to get in on Steams big push of Demos - Reviewed here by No Swear Gamer. 

I find it rather humorous that steam shows this as a Massively Multiplayer game.  Apparently they've invented the 4 player MMO. 
 

[roots.genoa]

5 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I think if they would have done one big campaign, this would have been shut down in 2019. Despite a few articles, the evidence suggest they only ever got 6000ish of consoles pre-ordered. (Amicade I think has over 6000 downloads now 🤣)

I can't be sure obviously, but I really think it would have garnered more backers if it had been a 'traditional' Kickstarter campaign, as long as it would have been properly promoted. I feel like the mainstream audience would trust a KS campaign more than a pre-order campaign on a dedicated website, even though I agree it's illogical. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that a good percentage of the initial pre-orders (the Founders' Editions) were coming from AA members.

[+cvga]

They had plenty of money, they just didn't use it wisely. If they would have had $50 million instead of $17 million they just would have acted more foolish.

[SegaMasterSystemPunk]

1 hour ago, cvga said:

They had plenty of money, they just didn't use it wisely. If they would have had $50 million instead of $17 million they just would have acted more foolish.

With 50 million, we might have had a few extra months of Tommy wrecking Intellivision in silly ways, giving us things to laugh at.

[+cvga]

9 minutes ago, SegaMasterSystemPunk said:

With 50 million, we might have had a few extra months of Tommy wrecking Intellivision in silly ways, giving us things to laugh at.

 

I'm guessing we would have gotten more offices, more employees and more licenses but unfortunately not more Amicos.

[SegaMasterSystemPunk]

2 minutes ago, cvga said:

 

I'm guessing we would have gotten more offices, more employees and more licenses but unfortunately not more Amicos.

We might even have been a lol short when I think of it. Because Tommy might not have needed to take a loan on a personal guarantee to get office furniture.

That circus will go to court in a few weeks, will be interesting to see!

[Razzie.P]

21 minutes ago, cvga said:

 

I'm guessing we would have gotten more offices, more employees and more licenses but unfortunately not more Amicos.

And more vacations.

 

 

[Rev]

Dynablaster looks fine. But I doubt it can compete with the official franchise. 

 

Plus I thought Dynablaster was Amico exclusive and only playable with Amico Controller.   Weird!

 

[Rev]

47 minutes ago, SegaMasterSystemPunk said:

We might even have been a lol short when I think of it. Because Tommy might not have needed to take a loan on a personal guarantee to get office furniture.

That circus will go to court in a few weeks, will be interesting to see!

All that furniture probably ended up at a thrift store.  

[MrBeefy]

1 hour ago, Rev said:

Dynablaster looks fine. But I doubt it can compete with the official franchise. 

 

Plus I thought Dynablaster was Amico exclusive and only playable with Amico Controller.   Weird!

 

Just imagine the edutainment games teaching kids what words mean! I'm sure there would at least be an entry for gaming racist.

[Razzie.P]

7 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Just imagine the edutainment games teaching kids what words mean! I'm sure there would at least be an entry for gaming racist.

And "ding-a-ling" would need to make the cut