Sometimes things are just destined to be troublesome. That though is probably running through a number of minds at the newly-formed Intellivision about their Amico console. Unfortunately, like with seemingly most projects of this nature (ie old brand name gets reborn in a new console project – see the Atari VCS or Coleco Chameleon), there has been a few bumps along the road. This time, news has filtered through that the Intellivision Amico has been delayed, its fourth delay in less than a year.
The Intellivision Amico was initially revealed in October 2018, and pre-orders opened up in April of the following year. The originally targeted release date was October 2020, but that was before COVID-19 wrecked all hope of that happening. The revised date was April 2021, then it became Fall 2021, and now we’re here, with an unclear date around the end of the year. In an email released to people who had preordered the $349 console (which includes a $100 deposit), Intellivision outlined the reasons behind the additional delay, and promised a “special thank you email” coming next week as an apology.
“Despite our best efforts, and now facing new unprecedented international component supply and logistics challenges beyond our control, we want to apologise as we are forced to push our desired launch date yet again.
“In spite of these supply hurdles hampering our ability to fill all orders, we are focused and determined to deliver pre-ordered units by the end of the year. This will also allow us more time to optimise our operating system for future game development.
“We want to ensure that those who have anticipated the Amico for so long, get a chance to enjoy it as soon as possible. Of course, we will keep all of our customers and interested parties informed and updated on our continued progress. ” – segment of email released to pre-orders
Intellivision also recently hosted a segment during E3 2021, in which Tommy Tallarico (who in the segment, admitted his major impact on gaming culture has been the “oof” sound from Roblox), walked people through the features and games of the upcoming Intellivision Amico. It’s safe to say that it didn’t inspire confidence in the Amico, with numerous reaction videos finding the funny side. The Intellivision Amico delay has come off the back of that conference, which has only compounded the unease behind the console.
What do you make of this latest Intellivision Amico delay? Had you decided to preorder it, or did you think that this was going to be a huge disaster? Leave a comment.
