Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[jerseystyle]

3 hours ago, mr_me said:

 

 

That was a good demo.  Yes they weren't happy with the first version but the demo did a good job explaining the added control features coming to the new version.

Considering the nearly universal negative reaction that demo received (including from me the #1 Cornhole booster) I think it’s a stretch to call it “good”. The extra control features looked like ass. TT acknowledged this when he told me in the forums that a better demo would be coming soon.

[Cebus Capucinis]

13 minutes ago, jerseystyle said:

I think it’s a stretch

It's cool, man, you can say "it's a lie," we crossed that bridge already.....

[1980gamer]

1 hour ago, kevtris said:

This isn't wal-mart or amazon.  When you're buying 10K-100K or more pieces, they tend to be pretty honest and up front about this sort of thing.  you can send samples to a lab for testing, and it isn't too expensive.  You don't need your own 15 grand tester for $500 in tests.  These types of batteries tend to be custom made for your application, and aren't off the shelf jobs. 

Yup, ask samsung. Millions of defective shit batteries.

 

Not trying to be an ass, but if you think 15K for the battery tester was the problem....   Or other such devices, wow.

 

What was the pre-orders again? I think it was 100K?  200K batteries, what is that like 7 or 8 cents per battery.  Easy to absorb. 

When I say easy, the idea isn't 100K units, it is 500K +   units as a short goal.

 

Plus you get to write-off these capital expenses.    Now, that big almost empty building.  Looked nice ( may have perceived value for investors? )

 

What do you think the burn rate was?  15k is a few hours...

[kevtris]

32 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

Yup, ask samsung. Millions of defective shit batteries.

 

Not trying to be an ass, but if you think 15K for the battery tester was the problem....   Or other such devices, wow.

 

What was the pre-orders again? I think it was 100K?  200K batteries, what is that like 7 or 8 cents per battery.  Easy to absorb. 

When I say easy, the idea isn't 100K units, it is 500K +   units as a short goal.

 

Plus you get to write-off these capital expenses.    Now, that big almost empty building.  Looked nice ( may have perceived value for investors? )

 

What do you think the burn rate was?  15k is a few hours...

samsung's problems weren't capacity related; they were swelling slightly and due to the tolerances and that was causing issues. 

 

Preorders were sitting at 14K at their highest, and by the time they put a number on them again, it was in the 6000 range.  You kinda got suckered into believing that they were really going to be building hundreds of thousands to millions of these things.  I knew from early 2020 that this was literally impossible.  It is very easy to claim you're going to make 35K of them a month, and "open another line if we need more".  It's quite another to actually have the product and team and followthrough to do this.  I knew by early 2020 that they were 100% screwed and had no hope of this ever happening.  There would've needed to be massive general interest from the public for this to occur (think playdate), and that literally didn't exist.

 

The problem isn't just ONE $15K expense, either.  The problem is they wasted money on a battery tester, a tumble tester, button tester,  lighted "game room: play at your own risk" sign, large expensive laser cut stainless steel logos, "ferrari parking only" signs... the list goes on.   It's a pattern of wasting money, and like the lottery winner that got $10 million, you keep pecking away at it and before you know it it's all gone and you're bankrupt.  If they were serious about making this thing, they would not have rented that giant hole to throw money into known as an office.  It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too large for them, as evidenced by all the empty offices.  There was literally NO reason to rent that cash furnace except to cosplay as a CEO.  If they didn't rent that white elephant and kept working out of the the literal back room they were working in, and not wasting money on frivolities they might've gotten somewhere.

 

I have been through this exact process now several times of launching a brand new product, in several different industries.  Including video game systems.  I could smell tommy's bullshit like a fart in a car the first month he was on atariage.  When I called him out on one of his lies, he got all pissed off and threatened to leave because this "wasn't a place to debate him".  

 

They could've reined in their burn rate easily, and they did not need to hire all those people they had on board.  It was either a case of hiring relatives and friends, or just the need to burn investor money like it was going out of style, because  in the last two years what have they accomplished?  fuck and all in my opinion.  The hardware's not moved.  software has barely changed,  games are still unfinished.  They admit the back end stuff isn't even close.  And now that they laid off everyone doing the work, there's not much chance of a recovery.  Especially when VC money has dried up due to the economic conditions.   All we saw was the so-called employees partying it up with john being the sole person working,  or on another "tour", john was busy working and tommy was walking around the mostly empty offices showing how nothing and no one was there.  Basically everyone that invested in this boondoggle got played for a chump and paid for them to have a 3 year long party at someone else's expense.  Sounds like a good gig if you can get it.

[MrBeefy]

2 hours ago, number6 said:

Just in case you think the big change several months after April fits in. Since this appears after meetings/contacts to decide how to adapt to the pandemic, it's relevant imo.

August 2020

 

@MrBeefy

 

Hey! Someone else likes timelines!

 

#6

No Swear Gamer must too! He made this.

[mr_me]

3 hours ago, jerseystyle said:

Considering the nearly universal negative reaction that demo received (including from me the #1 Cornhole booster) I think it’s a stretch to call it “good”. The extra control features looked like ass. TT acknowledged this when he told me in the forums that a better demo would be coming soon.

If you got a good understanding of the new features than it's a good demo.  Doesn't matter if you didn't like the new features.  If you didn't understand what the new features are than it would be a poor demo.  That demo isn't meant to sell the game because it's not even showing the game.  It's also showing a bit of the development process which is also interesting to see.

 

2 hours ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

It's cool, man, you can say "it's a lie," we crossed that bridge already.....

Since I'm the one who said it, I think you'd be the first to make that accusation.

 

1 hour ago, 1980gamer said:

What was the pre-orders again? I think it was 100K?

That would be retailer purchase orders and allocation requests, pre-orders should be much smaller.   They were definitely talking about initially manufacturing that many if not more prior to their troubles, and the financing to do it.

 

1 hour ago, kevtris said:

Preorders were sitting at 14K at their highest, and by the time they put a number on them again, it was in the 6000 range. ... 

That 14k number is from the Fig Amico investment page and included revenue share investors. The 6000 pre-orders are only those that are direct with the company and don't include those made by customers through retailers.  Their investor filings say they had about 100k units in retailer purchase orders and allocation requests.

Edited July 26, 2022 by mr_me

[MrBeefy]

16 minutes ago, kevtris said:

samsung's problems weren't capacity related; they were swelling slightly and due to the tolerances and that was causing issues. 

 

Preorders were sitting at 14K at their highest, and by the time they put a number on them again, it was in the 6000 range.  You kinda got suckered into believing that they were really going to be building hundreds of thousands to millions of these things.  I knew from early 2020 that this was literally impossible.  It is very easy to claim you're going to make 35K of them a month, and "open another line if we need more".  It's quite another to actually have the product and team and followthrough to do this.  I knew by early 2020 that they were 100% screwed and had no hope of this ever happening.  There would've needed to be massive general interest from the public for this to occur (think playdate), and that literally didn't exist.

 

The problem isn't just ONE $15K expense, either.  The problem is they wasted money on a battery tester, a tumble tester, button tester,  lighted "game room: play at your own risk" sign, large expensive laser cut stainless steel logos, "ferrari parking only" signs... the list goes on.   It's a pattern of wasting money, and like the lottery winner that got $10 million, you keep pecking away at it and before you know it it's all gone and you're bankrupt.  If they were serious about making this thing, they would not have rented that giant hole to throw money into known as an office.  It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too large for them, as evidenced by all the empty offices.  There was literally NO reason to rent that cash furnace except to cosplay as a CEO.  If they didn't rent that white elephant and kept working out of the the literal back room they were working in, and not wasting money on frivolities they might've gotten somewhere.

 

I have been through this exact process now several times of launching a brand new product, in several different industries.  Including video game systems.  I could smell tommy's bullshit like a fart in a car the first month he was on atariage.  When I called him out on one of his lies, he got all pissed off and threatened to leave because this "wasn't a place to debate him".  

 

They could've reined in their burn rate easily, and they did not need to hire all those people they had on board.  It was either a case of hiring relatives and friends, or just the need to burn investor money like it was going out of style, because  in the last two years what have they accomplished?  fuck and all in my opinion.  The hardware's not moved.  software has barely changed,  games are still unfinished.  They admit the back end stuff isn't even close.  And now that they laid off everyone doing the work, there's not much chance of a recovery.  Especially when VC money has dried up due to the economic conditions.   All we saw was the so-called employees partying it up with john being the sole person working,  or on another "tour", john was busy working and tommy was walking around the mostly empty offices showing how nothing and no one was there.  Basically everyone that invested in this boondoggle got played for a chump and paid for them to have a 3 year long party at someone else's expense.  Sounds like a good gig if you can get it.

I really think fuck all is being rather generous.

 

They've screwed the pooch so bad keeping their trademarks active is an accomplishment.

 

Sad thing is many people were suckered, by a guy who obviously didn't know jack about how to run a company. For touting the years of experience they sure couldn't show it. 

 

The only thing they've been successful at is making the name Intellivision synonymous with scam, and worse than the Coleco Chameleon. 

 

 

They haven't even earned a participation trophy yet. They haven't even shown up at the start.

 

Wow ran across this old article from 2018. https://variety.com/2018/gaming/columns/amico-opinion-intellivision-1203018158/

[Rev]

I dont know kevtris really at all, barely have ever conversed with him. But pretty much everything he says is logical and truthful and he doesnt sound like a salesman. Unlike certain managers at Intellivision Entertainment that burned through 17+ million dollars and havent released a product other than the gift card game boxes. And are not giving people their requested refunds for many months now. Im sorry if the truth rubs people the wrong way, the Intellivision name and legacy has a black eye. sad. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Rev

[kevtris]

23 minutes ago, mr_me said:

56 minutes ago, kevtris said:

Preorders were sitting at 14K at their highest, and by the time they put a number on them again, it was in the 6000 range. ... 

That 14k number is from the Fig Amico investment page and included revenue share investors. The 6000 pre-orders are only those that are direct with the company and don't include those made by customers through retailers.  Their investor filings say they had about 100k units in retailer purchase orders and allocation requests.

Whether it's true or not, we know that they have 0K units in retailer purchase orders now because it's been delayed so many times and no longer has a definitive release date.  This leaves the 6K preorders which has probably dwindled to half that size now if people can even get refunds.  Word on the street is that refunds aren't being provided any more, and the customer rep that was doing said refunds left the company, and the only way to get it back is via your bank or paypal. 

 

I am honestly surprised paypal would honor a refund request since it's been so long since they took the money, over 2 years now.

[1980gamer]

54 minutes ago, kevtris said:

samsung's problems weren't capacity related; they were swelling slightly and due to the tolerances and that was causing issues. 

 

Preorders were sitting at 14K at their highest, and by the time they put a number on them again, it was in the 6000 range.  You kinda got suckered into believing that they were really going to be building hundreds of thousands to millions of these things.  I knew from early 2020 that this was literally impossible.  It is very easy to claim you're going to make 35K of them a month, and "open another line if we need more".  It's quite another to actually have the product and team and followthrough to do this.  I knew by early 2020 that they were 100% screwed and had no hope of this ever happening.  There would've needed to be massive general interest from the public for this to occur (think playdate), and that literally didn't exist.

 

The problem isn't just ONE $15K expense, either.  The problem is they wasted money on a battery tester, a tumble tester, button tester,  lighted "game room: play at your own risk" sign, large expensive laser cut stainless steel logos, "ferrari parking only" signs... the list goes on.   It's a pattern of wasting money, and like the lottery winner that got $10 million, you keep pecking away at it and before you know it it's all gone and you're bankrupt.  If they were serious about making this thing, they would not have rented that giant hole to throw money into known as an office.  It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too large for them, as evidenced by all the empty offices.  There was literally NO reason to rent that cash furnace except to cosplay as a CEO.  If they didn't rent that white elephant and kept working out of the the literal back room they were working in, and not wasting money on frivolities they might've gotten somewhere.

 

I have been through this exact process now several times of launching a brand new product, in several different industries.  Including video game systems.  I could smell tommy's bullshit like a fart in a car the first month he was on atariage.  When I called him out on one of his lies, he got all pissed off and threatened to leave because this "wasn't a place to debate him".  

 

They could've reined in their burn rate easily, and they did not need to hire all those people they had on board.  It was either a case of hiring relatives and friends, or just the need to burn investor money like it was going out of style, because  in the last two years what have they accomplished?  fuck and all in my opinion.  The hardware's not moved.  software has barely changed,  games are still unfinished.  They admit the back end stuff isn't even close.  And now that they laid off everyone doing the work, there's not much chance of a recovery.  Especially when VC money has dried up due to the economic conditions.   All we saw was the so-called employees partying it up with john being the sole person working,  or on another "tour", john was busy working and tommy was walking around the mostly empty offices showing how nothing and no one was there.  Basically everyone that invested in this boondoggle got played for a chump and paid for them to have a 3 year long party at someone else's expense.  Sounds like a good gig if you can get it.

Samsung bats were doing more than expanding... Poof!

This is where cycle testing finds these problems.  But anyway.

 

They had purchase agreements beyond the 6K 14K whatever that number was/is.

 

Yes, a loose petty cash budge.  But again.  $15 novelty signs is not breaking the bank.  The laser cut stainless was prob a few pennies, but again, it is part of the "image".  Vanity, maybe.  Wow investors? Most likely the goal.

 

I am pretty/very conservative with capital expenditures.  I argue with my brother in law ( a pricing analyst ) all the time about this insanity. They have a team of people making certain they charge more than everyone else.

Sounds stupid right?  But a lot of people believe you get what you pay for.    
 

Peloton.....

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/peloton-ceo-says-sales-increased-raised-prices-2245-exercise-bike-132256225.html

 

You and I may think this is crazy, but a lot of people love to waist money and see it being wasted.  Somehow that increases quality.  Venture money eats this shit up.  Strange!

 

[1980gamer]

19 minutes ago, kevtris said:

Whether it's true or not, we know that they have 0K units in retailer purchase orders now because it's been delayed so many times and no longer has a definitive release date.  This leaves the 6K preorders which has probably dwindled to half that size now if people can even get refunds.  Word on the street is that refunds aren't being provided any more, and the customer rep that was doing said refunds left the company, and the only way to get it back is via your bank or paypal. 

 

I am honestly surprised paypal would honor a refund request since it's been so long since they took the money, over 2 years now.

I would think the sales agreements are gone.  I don't know about refund request numbers.  I have been on the founders wait list for a long time.

 

I guess paypal can get blood from a stone.

 

Speaking of Peloton...  Great Tour de France this year.  Some impressive riding and team tactics. Despite teams getting beat up by crashes and covid.

[kevtris]

4 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

Peloton.....

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/peloton-ceo-says-sales-increased-raised-prices-2245-exercise-bike-132256225.html

 

You and I may think this is crazy, but a lot of people love to waist money and see it being wasted.  Somehow that increases quality.  Venture money eats this shit up.  Strange!

Yeah, but peloton actually has products and sells and ships them.  And intellivision just couldn't attract VC money, probably due to the lack of progress they've shown.  As for those "100K preorders" they claimed to have had through retail, that probably poofed when they missed their first and second ship dates.  Speaking of that, one thing I don't see discussed too much is how in a lot of retail situations, the producer is actually on the hook to buy back unsold inventory.  Let's say wal-mart bought 100K amicos, put them in stores, and could only sell 20K of them.  intv would be on the hook to buy back the 80K unsellable units from them.  That'd be total devastation for them.  I guess they'd go out of business and those amicos would show up at big lots.

 

Startengine's investors were a lot more savvy than the republic.co investors, and started asking the hard questions.  When the questions got too hard, they cancelled the offer.  And then cancelled the company, and employees, and here we are.  The only thing they didn't cancel was hope.  Hope and a dollar will get you a soda.

[MarioMan88]

8 minutes ago, kevtris said:

Yeah, but peloton actually has products and sells and ships them.  And intellivision just couldn't attract VC money, probably due to the lack of progress they've shown.  As for those "100K preorders" they claimed to have had through retail, that probably poofed when they missed their first and second ship dates.  Speaking of that, one thing I don't see discussed too much is how in a lot of retail situations, the producer is actually on the hook to buy back unsold inventory.  Let's say wal-mart bought 100K amicos, put them in stores, and could only sell 20K of them.  intv would be on the hook to buy back the 80K unsellable units from them.  That'd be total devastation for them.  I guess they'd go out of business and those amicos would show up at big lots.

 

Startengine's investors were a lot more savvy than the republic.co investors, and started asking the hard questions.  When the questions got too hard, they cancelled the offer.  And then cancelled the company, and employees, and here we are.  The only thing they didn't cancel was hope.  Hope and a dollar will get you a soda.

The one truly baffling aspect is how did this buffoonery go on so long? And a small subset of folks STILL have hope and believe ? 

[MrBeefy]

22 minutes ago, kevtris said:

Whether it's true or not, we know that they have 0K units in retailer purchase orders now because it's been delayed so many times and no longer has a definitive release date.  This leaves the 6K preorders which has probably dwindled to half that size now if people can even get refunds.  Word on the street is that refunds aren't being provided any more, and the customer rep that was doing said refunds left the company, and the only way to get it back is via your bank or paypal. 

 

I am honestly surprised paypal would honor a refund request since it's been so long since they took the money, over 2 years now.

I'm surprised too. Maybe PayPal has received enough that it threw a flag up?

 

Gamestop even canceled all their preorders. Games top isn't in the type of place to not ask for money if they believe it is coming.

 

They should have had 12600 preorders. 2600 FEs and 10000 VIPs. Unless they lied about that number. They've lost over half of their preorders. If they wouldn't have lied about 100% completely refundable it probably would be quite less.

4 minutes ago, kevtris said:

Yeah, but peloton actually has products and sells and ships them.  And intellivision just couldn't attract VC money, probably due to the lack of progress they've shown.  As for those "100K preorders" they claimed to have had through retail, that probably poofed when they missed their first and second ship dates.  Speaking of that, one thing I don't see discussed too much is how in a lot of retail situations, the producer is actually on the hook to buy back unsold inventory.  Let's say wal-mart bought 100K amicos, put them in stores, and could only sell 20K of them.  intv would be on the hook to buy back the 80K unsellable units from them.  That'd be total devastation for them.  I guess they'd go out of business and those amicos would show up at big lots.

 

Startengine's investors were a lot more savvy than the republic.co investors, and started asking the hard questions.  When the questions got too hard, they cancelled the offer.  And then cancelled the company, and employees, and here we are.  The only thing they didn't cancel was hope.  Hope and a dollar will get you a soda.

They had an investor and that investor backed out. Much like Allard I'm sure it "wasn't a good fit". They have had nothing to show for 4 years of work. We know at this point they can't launch this year. So really it will be 5 years, and that's assuming it can even come out then.

 

Some people like to stick their heads in the sand and eat the tripe stuffed in their face by the people who ran off with money.

 

 

[1980gamer]

10 minutes ago, kevtris said:

Yeah, but peloton actually has products and sells and ships them.

...... true

 

[MrBeefy]

Just now, MarioMan88 said:

The one truly baffling aspect is how did this buffoonery go on so long? And a small subset of folks STILL have hope and believe ? 

You have a Masters in Psych right?

 

 

[Matt_B]

1 minute ago, MrBeefy said:

You have a Masters in Psych right?

 

 

What a band.

I'd think that Intellivision should be on Open Letter (To A Landlord) by now though.

[MrBeefy]

16 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

What a band.

I'd think that Intellivision should be on Open Letter (To A Landlord) by now though.

I can't wait for the inevitable thread of, Amico would have been the best console of all time if.....(insert one of the following),

 

CUPodcast didn't talk about it.

Haters.

Covid.

Gaming racism.

Gaming communism.

Jealous gatekeeping.

Ellen's show not ending.

 

Even if you take the crappy company out of the picture, and just look at the item. I'm pretty sure you still have a failed product. But yeah their 600 years of evidently worthless industry experience won't even get them to the point of trying.

Edited July 26, 2022 by MrBeefy

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, kevtris said:

Whether it's true or not, we know that they have 0K units in retailer purchase orders now because it's been delayed so many times and no longer has a definitive release date.

That could very well be but how do you know all retailers are out?  Doesn't matter now as they've completely changed their production plans to start with small production runs.

 

Regardless, they were able to get substantial retailer interest with this product, they just couldn't deliver.  Had they delivered, they understood it would be on them to move retailer units, or those units would be coming back.

 

Startengine investors are probably many of the same people on Republic, they already invested.

 

 

[Rev]

Does Intellivision Entertainment have a new (smaller) office somewhere, anyone know?

 

Where is all the contents of the abandoned offices?  Like testing equip and all the proto consoles etc etc.    In a storage unit?  Someones garage?  Will this stuff show up on Storage Wars some day…

[Rev]

3 minutes ago, mr_me said:

That could very well be but how do you know all retailers are out?  Doesn't matter now as they've completely changed their production plans to start with small production runs.

 

Regardless, they were able to get substantial retailer interest with this product, they just couldn't deliver.  Had they delivered, they understood it would be on them to move retailer units, or those units would be coming back.

 

Startengine investors are probably many of the same people on Republic, they already invested.

 

 

How about you tell is which retailers are IN?   

[MattPilz]

1 hour ago, kevtris said:

This leaves the 6K preorders which has probably dwindled to half that size now if people can even get refunds.

Their SEC filing indicated $539,300 in deferred revenue within the paragraph mentioning the $100 deposits. Based on that, by the end of Dec. 2020 they had roughly 5,400 pre-orders including the original 2,600 founder editions, it's possible they climbed toward 6,000 in 2021 I supposed. I'm not sure how the original allocations from Fig/Republic factor in.

 

The notion that there were over 300 people on the backlog list waiting to pre-order the founder edition does not seem truthful. I requested to be added to that list in Feb. 2022 and within a week's time was asked for the payment and the invoice of that was only #36 or so.

 

TT had given a conservative estimate than they'd be selling a minimum of 10,000,000 units within seven years.

[Cebus Capucinis]

37 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

I can't wait for the inevitable thread of, Amico would have been the best console of all time if.....(insert one of the following),

 

CUPodcast didn't talk about it.

Haters.

Covid.

Gaming racism.

Gaming communism.

Jealous gatekeeping.

Ellen's show not ending.

 

Even if you take the crappy company out of the picture, and just look at the item. I'm pretty sure you still have a failed product. But yeah their 600 years of evidently worthless industry experience won't even get them to the point of trying.

LOL and the only one they won't ever admit will be....

 

Amico would have been the best console of all time if they wouldn't have let a dimwit run the show.

[mr_me]

2 minutes ago, Rev said:

How about you tell is which retailers are IN?   

Why?  What makes you think I know.

[+Lathe26]