The video game industry’s longest standing feud is settled with Atari acquiring Intellivision.
Exactly a month after Atari Inc. revived the Infogrames brand name, it makes a next move in solidifying its market share in the nostalgia driven retro corner of the video game industry. The most fascination part of the Atari press release is the mention of the Amico. Atari clearly mentions that it will rebrand the Amico and continue building the platform and develop more games for it. Even promising new versions of it.
To put it mildly, platform went through some rough patches the last four years. The family friendly console and it’s talking head, Tommy Tallarico, seemed very ambitious and confident, but could never clear the cloud of mystery around the platform. Sketchy videos and photoshopped imagery which supposed to act as proof of a working console added to the atmosphere of a hoax, making fans that invested in Intellivision’s crowdfunding efforts very nervous. Ever since Tallarico openly argued with retro game influencers and news outlets, new leadership have moved Tallarico to the background and aimed to act more like an actual company.
“Atari has been a valuable partner and we have every confidence they will be a responsible steward of the storied Intellivision brand,” said Phil Adam, CEO of Intellivision Entertainment. “We look forward to our expanded collaboration and the prospect of bringing a broad array of new titles to the Amico family gaming platform.”
Atari, in their judgement, clearly have confidence in getting Amico finally on shelves as well as hoping to capitalize on the roughly 200 video game IP’s the company holds. From a romantic perspective this merger lays the 45-year feud and the first ever console war to bed.
