The troubled Intellivision Amico seems to be hitting yet more problems. According to an email sent by Intellivision CEO Phil Adams, the project has resulted in "significant" staff layoffs and downsizing for the company, as well as slow refund processing.
What's going on with the Intellivision Amico now?
The Intellivision Amico has been beset with problems since it was announced back in 2018. Most recently, Intellivision launched a StartEngine campaign to raise more funding and clear its debts (a campaign that recently ended early after Intellivision supposedly entered negotiations with non-StartEngine investors). Now, an email from Intellivision CEO Phil Adams, which was shared by The Nerf Report's Bryant Chappel on Twitter, has revealed that the company has endured "significant" layoffs in the wake of the Amico's many problems. These layoffs came as a result of a "dramatic" reduction in operational costs, with that reduction also causing delays in refund request processing for Intellivision.
Adams' email also reveals a few other interesting points about the Amico. According to Adams, the StartEngine campaign was pulled down due to low "visibility of our path to profitability". If any of the Amico's games look appealing to you, then there's a chance you might get to play them on other systems, too; Adams says Intellivision is currently working with other developers to "license classic Intellivision IPs" on other platforms. We don't yet know if that includes the exclusive Earthworm Jim game revealed back in 2019, but we sure hope it does.
When will the Intellivision Amico actually launch?
Sadly, we don't know when the Amico will actually launch yet, but there could be some hope on the horizon. Adams' email confirms that Intellivision has begun a test production run for Amico that incorporates "every aspect of the product including packaging". Don't get too excited, though; this is just a test run, so it doesn't mean the product is ready to go to market yet. Intellivision also intends to focus more on fulfilling pre-orders and supplying its "two major distribution partners" over bringing the Amico to the mass market, so it could be quite a while yet before the console is readily available to buy in stores.
Of course, there are question marks around whether you should want to buy the Amico, given some of the business decisions made by its creators. In November last year, for example, it emerged that the Amico game Tank Battle (also known as Battle Tanks) contained assets taken from other games, and although the company subsequently asserted that these were "placeholder graphics", it's not a great look for an already-troubled console. That's not to mention the fact that Intellivision has been selling Amico games before the console is even remotely close to release, which doesn't help things. Somewhere in all this, there's a version of the Intellivision Amico that launches and takes the world by storm. Let's hope that's what happens. We'll bring you more on this as soon as we get it.