Intellivision Swaps CEOs, Amico Still With No Release

I find it cute when kids today talk about “retro” games. As a medium the entirety of gaming history is not much longer than DARPA’s research work into making early computers connected, thus making the basis of the internet. While arcades ruled the roost in those early days, the 70s came along and ruined the quiet afternoon parents had planned for siblings shouting and beating each other over the head with plastic once again. One of the major console manufacturers back then was US-based and Mattel owned Intellivision, from the 2nd generation of consoles. Just for reference, we’re now in the 9th generation of consoles.

Nonetheless, Intellivision continues to this day though with less input from Mattel and more from a man that looks like he fell out of an 80s rock/metal video. As reported by VentureBeat and later by GamesIndustry.biz, the current iteration of Intellivision Entertainment (the new company) has made changes via a game of musical chairs. That joke will be funny in a minute. First getting into the console business back in 2017, Tommy Tallarico bought stakes in the Intellivision and stated his intention to bring about a new system with the name attached.

For those of you young enough to not know what I’ve spoken about for a minute, the Intellivision was a popular system that sold a massive 3-million units. Was there a chip shortage back then too? Anyway, Tallarico is mostly known for his soundtrack work on a number of projects, including Earthworm Jim (1 & 2) and the PS1 game Spider-Man. As reported by VentureBeat, Tallarico will be leaving his position of Intellivision Entertainment’s CEO and will be replaced by former CRO Phil Adam. Now, do you get the joke?

In a statement, Tallarico said: “We make decisions together, but he can make executive decisions without me. And I trust him 100%.” While it is public that there will be a change in leadership for the console yet to release, there has been no statement given as to why such a decision was made. Though one could easily speculate that following several years since the intention to release a console was first announced, three delays, and still what will be coming up to two years beyond the initial launch window, someone needed to move off the pot.

As VentureBeat states, the company has been plagued with issues that are common in today’s gaming market. Chip shortages caused the first delay and undoubtedly the second and third, which can’t be blamed on anyone at Intellivision, though one could assume eager fans might nonetheless. Still, with no console and no date set, we’ve yet to see what comes next from Intellivision with the Amico.