Update (March 2, 2022 - 6:26 PM) - An update explaining the early closure of the Intellivision Amico StartEngine investment campaign was sent out by the company earlier this evening.
According to an e-mail received by TechRaptor, Intellivision has begun the process of working on "a deal structure and terms" with investors outside of the StartEngine platform. One of the agreements reached between Intellivision and these unnamed parties is a "quiet period" while negotiations are in progress; it seems that this is the likely reason for the campaign's early end. Intellivision will share more details on the company's status as soon as it's able to do so.
Our original story continues below.
The Intellivision Amico StartEngine investment campaign has come to an early end, fueling speculation about what this could mean for the upcoming family-friendly console.
By now, it's pretty safe to say that the Intellivision Amico has not had the smoothest start. It was delayed and delayed again, and customers still do not have their hands on these consoles. Concerns about the console only grew after the reveal of a massive debt problem with the company and company CEO Tommy Tallarico stepping down from his role (but remaining at the company) due to the poor health of his father. Now, something else strange has happened -- a crowdfunding investment campaign for the Amico has ended much earlier than expected.
Why Did the Intellivision Amico StartEngine Investment Campaign End?
We don't know exactly why the Intellivision Amico StartEngine investment campaign ended early. The campaign was supposed to run until April 2022 as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, but it ended up closing down after only three weeks. The campaign raised a total of $58,001.
One has to wonder: does the early end of the Intellivision Amico StartEngine investment campaign spell doom for the console? That, unfortunately, is a matter of speculation.
Ars Technica's Technology editor Sam Machokovech categorized the early end of the campaign as "about as bright and red a flag as it gets in the world of unreleased tech hardware." Ultimately, the campaign only raised 1% of its maximum goal.
However, GamesIndustry.biz's analysis is somewhat more optimistic. When the StartEngine campaign launched, Intellivision noted that it was in talks with venture capital firms and that it would stop the campaign if one of them invested in the company. It's possible that Intellivision may have gotten such an investment. Suffice it to say, the future of the Intellivision Amico is as uncertain as it ever was -- at least until the company puts out an official announcement.
