Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

39 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

THE CEILING FAN MYSTERY HAS BEEN REVEALED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll have to watch.  Will the ceiling fan breaks break, chip the walls, spins freely, ceiling flattens to allow the fan to spin, or doesn't work since it's there for decoration and distraction?  I think it needs a fan club. 

9 minutes ago, OEB_Pete said:

I want to thank @Tommy Tallaricofor taking the time to do the Reddit AMA, the turnout was amazing and the questions asked were awesome and his answers were insightful and genuine.  I was ghosting it all day looking out for trolls, there were a few but Tommy stepped in and dealt the killing blow a few times so I did not have to get all sunshiney up in their arse!  Reddit is an odd community, I actually spend a lot of time there helping GrudgeQ build up the Amico Reddit by positing discussion , etc... So it was good to see Tommy take on that medium so strongly,  as redditors we are a qwirky bunch. 

 

On a side note there will be no more Countdown videos as all my Amico news is now on reddit all 7 pages  Thanks Tommy  

But we don't all go to Reddit and would rather hear it in bite sized portions from you.

😃

6 hours ago, jaybird3rd said:

I wish I could bet money that it was one of the same losers who have been creating so many headaches for us over here.  Every time I think I've seen the lowest they can go, they always find a way to prove me wrong.  I guess they truly have nothing better to do with their miserable lives.

Never underestimate human stupidity.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

PHEW!!!  That was one helluva Reddit!  About 7 hours straight!

It was like answering about 50 pages of AA Q&A's!  Wow! 

 

Only 2 douches that tried to spoil the fun but we're quickly put in their place.  That fake thread just goes to show how amazingly immature and obsessed with me they are.  Clearly they dumbasses who got BANNED from here yet continue to read about me every day.  A real bad case of Tommy Derangement System.  Hahhaha!!  The fact that they obsess so much just proves that we are on to something BIG and there is nothing their immature wacked out daddy issue minds can do about it.  Suck it fellas!

 

Changing gears...

 

Here's a really cool and in depth article that just hit today!  This is a big industry website.  Very cool!
 

https://gamedaily.biz/article/1680/intellivision-amico-receives-10000-preorders-only-needs-180000-sold-to-hit-break-even-point

 

Reddit is probably worse than 2ch or 4ch. I didn't even think that was possible until I discovered Reddit, but it is. That's why the only places on the entire internet you'll find me are here and Terraonion's forum.

Anyway, this article has something right in the title that I've been curious about for some time: the break-even point. 180000 consoles sold is really low. Like stupidly low. If Sony/MS/Nintendo sold that many they'd still be in the red, I think.

I skimmed through the article extremely quickly, so I might have missed it if it was mentioned (probably not) and I'm pretty sure you've talked about this before so forgive me if you have, but you guys are going to making a profit from each console sold, right? Pre-coronavirus, anyway, but you've mentioned waiting so you can keep the price under $249 if you need to. I remember you saying that you're probably going to lose a little bit of money on the FE now given the stuff that's happening. I'm not sure how much you'll be losing on each FE console (and how much is probably a company secret, so I won't ask), but technically breaking even does actually indicate a success from a certain point of view, as that means you're doing well enough to continue operating, which gives you time to figure out how to make a profit. Obviously making a profit is better than breaking even, but breaking even is still a success, in a limited way. 180000 is a low number and if you are at 10000 preorders already without spending any money on marketing, that's very interesting. Those 10000 preorders are not quite "10000 sales" yet since they haven't been paid in full, of course, but still, well done so far.

I remember the PS3 was sold at a huge loss (to be made up for in software sales) and I'm not sure about most other consoles, but if you look at things like razors and printers, those are usually sold at a loss and then they make it up with sales of razor blades, which is why those things are so damn expensive, and printer ink. I'd love to see the Amico profit margins, especially for the third party developers! Each game costs a different amount of money to make and will sell differently, of course, but it would still be interesting to see. I know, that stuff is secret since I'm pretty sure you're a private company, but still!

Well I have alot of questions.  But obviously its hard to ask when something's very well could be hush hush till the system is released.  But heres my main question to all on here and if Tommy sees this and can shed light on this. 

Interactive roleplaying,  I see a big potential for this system having games like AD&D, old school Gamma world games like the more recent Star wars epic duels or miniatures being on the Amico. Custom dice you can roll out. Also using your voice to make commands. With this controller I'm super excited because it could be used to display your character sheet. Maybe make custom art to display your character visually.  By way of upload personal art to using a stylus on the controller to do the art on the tv. Just think you and your 7 buddies going on a quest or quests. 

As for old school gaming I would love to see Imagic come back with their hits and make completely new versions with physical copies with the chrome boxes. Please give me your thoughts and ideas good or bad. Whether you think its a cool idea or a bad one and why.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

As pathetic and sad as it is, I think it's hilarious that they get little boners over me every waking moment.

Imagine... each and every day they wake up they scour these threads and YouTube as well as read my Twitter and Facebook and watch EVERY video and EVERY interview.

They sound more like fans.

14 minutes ago, Relicgamer said:

Well I have alot of questions.  But obviously its hard to ask when something's very well could be hush hush till the system is released.  But heres my main question to all on here and if Tommy sees this and can shed light on this. 

Interactive roleplaying,  I see a big potential for this system having games like AD&D, old school Gamma world games like the more recent Star wars epic duels or miniatures being on the Amico. Custom dice you can roll out. Also using your voice to make commands. With this controller I'm super excited because it could be used to display your character sheet. Maybe make custom art to display your character visually.  By way of upload personal art to using a stylus on the controller to do the art on the tv. Just think you and your 7 buddies going on a quest or quests. 

As for old school gaming I would love to see Imagic come back with their hits and make completely new versions with physical copies with the chrome boxes. Please give me your thoughts and ideas good or bad. Whether you think its a cool idea or a bad one and why.

I never thought about that but it's so brilliant that it sounds like it HAS to happen. 

A lot of these role playing games have a certain amount of learning curve and having all that taken care of by the system (behind the scenes as it were) would help boost these games for casuals.

My youngest (19) and I have tried for ever to get into role playing games but it always falls through and if this was a pick up and play type system it would be crazy fun.

I might even get my oldest (21) away from his Call if Duty to join in.

😄😃

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

THE CEILING FAN MYSTERY HAS BEEN REVEALED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all these intellivision videos and this forum have been a great fun diversion, thanks guys,thanks Tommy!!! Its nice to think about fun stuff. I think I'm gonna buy a running man hat from the store in the morning. Hats are gonna become really popular again as we all are being kept from our barbers and our old guy hair does its crazy thing  

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

THE CEILING FAN MYSTERY HAS BEEN REVEALED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and now with secret revealed maybe Tommy can bring back one of my all time, rare, but favorite Intellivisions games

2 hours ago, Michael Garvey said:

But we don't all go to Reddit and would rather hear it in bite sized portions from you.

 

😃

I agree !! Please keep doing these weekly videos 😃

30 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

and now with secret revealed maybe Tommy can bring back one of my all time, rare, but favorite Intellivisons games

 

 

 

Do you push the switch up to turn it on as suggested by the picture?

In Australia we push it down. Just curious. 

Hello Tommy, and Everyone Else,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I finally found the time to put something together to share.
( SORRY in advance for the brain dump! )

# 1 - Thanks Tommy to You, and all Your Team! Ever since I first began hearing about the new Intellivision Amico, I have been trying to spread the word to anyone I know that I think would appreciate this type of new gaming system. I have already put down money for a FE for myself, and a VIP for my In-Law's who still play their Wii religiously ( primarily bowling )

# 2 - Thanks to All the members of 'The Posse of Positivity' who hang out at this forum! Y'All are the highlight of my day!

# 3 - Tommy, I'm sure this has already been mentioned ad nauseum, but when I first saw the new console, and controllers, some of the ideas that popped into my head were games like :

A. - Battleship - Where the main T.V. screen starts out in a state of "The Fog of War" and each controller shows each players ships on their own battle grid, and as each player takes turns shooting, "The Fog of War" will dissipate, and if a 'hit' is registered, it would show a little bit more battle grid on the main T.V. screen than a 'miss' would illuminate

B. - Texas Hold 'Em - ( or most any other poker/card game ) The players cards are on the controller screen, and the 'shared' cards are on the main T.V. screen

C. - Shuffleboard - Where the controller is used to send the discs to the other end of the playing field

D. - Curling - ( For our Brothers and Sisters to the North ) where the controller could be used to simulate each of the motions used in the Curling game, either launching the rock, sweeping, etc.

E. - Pinball - Where the controller could be 'tapped' on the side to mimic bumping the pinball machine to affect the flight of the ball in the cabinet minimally

There's a bunch of other ones, but this is what this console has done for me is to make me think of all the possiblilities that are out there, and I just can't wait! My apologies if You've already heard/seen these, I'm late to the forum, and didn't go all the way back to the beginning and read all the posts, but wanted to share in case any of these ideas might prompt thoughts for You, or someone on Your Team there.

THANKS AGAIN! Can't Thank Y'All enough for bringing back the system of my youth!

p.s. - Congrats on all of You and Your Team's to date successes, and here's to wishing You MANY MORE!

May You All stay hale and healthy there Sir!

BF

1 hour ago, Utopia said:

Do you push the switch up to turn it on as suggested by the picture?

In Australia we push it down. Just curious. 

Generally it's up = on in the US. Occasionally I have encountered a few that were backwards, though.

I think one feature that could be added is to add mini games to the Amico controller to bring with you.  It seems to have it own memory and firmware.  Something like 2D Missile Command, or maybe original Intellivision games could be brought with you on a bus, at work, on the loo, or while you're driving.  Overlay maybe a problem, but Intellivision resolution is small enough to fit in the touch screen and a small overlay that could be dismissed if the game primarily uses the disc and button. 

1 hour ago, Utopia said:

In Australia we push it down. Just curious.

But down there, gravity is reversed, right? 😅

1 hour ago, Barley Farquahr said:

Hello Tommy, and Everyone Else,

 

Long time lurker, first time poster. I finally found the time to put something together to share.
( SORRY in advance for the brain dump! )

 

# 1 - Thanks Tommy to You, and all Your Team! Ever since I first began hearing about the new Intellivision Amico, I have been trying to spread the word to anyone I know that I think would appreciate this type of new gaming system. I have already put down money for a FE for myself, and a VIP for my In-Law's who still play their Wii religiously ( primarily bowling )

 

# 2 - Thanks to All the members of 'The Posse of Positivity' who hang out at this forum! Y'All are the highlight of my day!

 

# 3 - Tommy, I'm sure this has already been mentioned ad nauseum, but when I first saw the new console, and controllers, some of the ideas that popped into my head were games like :

 

A. - Battleship - Where the main T.V. screen starts out in a state of "The Fog of War" and each controller shows each players ships on their own battle grid, and as each player takes turns shooting, "The Fog of War" will dissipate, and if a 'hit' is registered, it would show a little bit more battle grid on the main T.V. screen than a 'miss' would illuminate

 

B. - Texas Hold 'Em - ( or most any other poker/card game ) The players cards are on the controller screen, and the 'shared' cards are on the main T.V. screen

 

C. - Shuffleboard - Where the controller is used to send the discs to the other end of the playing field

 

D. - Curling - ( For our Brothers and Sisters to the North ) where the controller could be used to simulate each of the motions used in the Curling game, either launching the rock, sweeping, etc.

 

E. - Pinball - Where the controller could be 'tapped' on the side to mimic bumping the pinball machine to affect the flight of the ball in the cabinet minimally

 

There's a bunch of other ones, but this is what this console has done for me is to make me think of all the possiblilities that are out there, and I just can't wait! My apologies if You've already heard/seen these, I'm late to the forum, and didn't go all the way back to the beginning and read all the posts, but wanted to share in case any of these ideas might prompt thoughts for You, or someone on Your Team there.

 

THANKS AGAIN! Can't Thank Y'All enough for bringing back the system of my youth!

 

p.s. - Congrats on all of You and Your Team's to date successes, and here's to wishing You MANY MORE!

 

May You All stay hale and healthy there Sir!

 

BF

Welcome to the forums! We were all lurkers at one point. Lol! As you’ve noticed there are lots of people who come here to learn as much as they can about something we believe will be a fun and positive addition to our lives. 👍🏻

Some great game ideas on your list, a couple that I’m pretty sure Tommy said will be happening. As a Canadian I like your curling recommendation. 😄 

As you've seen Tommy is more than happy to answer questions so keep asking them. 

8 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Here's a really cool and in depth article that just hit today!  This is a big industry website.  Very cool!
 

https://gamedaily.biz/article/1680/intellivision-amico-receives-10000-preorders-only-needs-180000-sold-to-hit-break-even-point

Great article !

Tommy, can you elaborate on this quote which is one of my concerns regarding Amico right now.

“You take a Last of Us type of project, how many people are there? Towards the end of a project, especially the last sprint, you gotta be in the room together. That is so important. Being in the room is a big part of development for those big games. But for our stuff, we have teams of 5-8 people and so it's a lot easier. From a software standpoint, it hasn't affected us at all, which is great,” he said.

In Quebec, only essential services provided. I don't know on your side if it's the same thing. Can your teams continue to improve the games right now despite quarantine ?

Thank you.

3 hours ago, cmart604 said:

As you’ve noticed there are lots of people who come here to learn as much as they can about something we believe will be a fun and positive addition to our lives. 👍🏻

 

Not me. 

I come here to taunt all of you for LIFE! 😈

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Anyway, this article has something right in the title that I've been curious about for some time: the break-even point. 180000 consoles sold is really low. Like stupidly low. If Sony/MS/Nintendo sold that many they'd still be in the red, I think.

Don't think of just each unit sold as the profit or loss.  It's the attach rate of software that also factors into the profit & success.  For example.... if someone bought a PS5 and only ever bought one game for it... it would actually be a net LOSS for Sony (for that one particular unit).  But it also works the other way.  They may lose money on the hardware but the average console buyer spends $120 per year on software (real number) and $60 of that may be profit for Sony.  And factor in they all make 30% of EVERY piece of software sold on their platform.  So for them... it's not necessarily the profit on the unit from the get go... but the investment in the console over time.  This is why exclusives and 1st party titles are so important.  Our business model is very different from the others though.  And when you have companies like Microsoft spending $100 MILLION dollars just to create their controller (https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-11-20-xbox-one-pad-cost-usd100-million-in-r-and-d-microsoft) and spending tens of millions of dollars to develop franchises like Halo & Forza... their break even points (and their software prices) SKYROCKET compared to ours.  Not only do they need to sell millions and millions of units.  But they also need to sell peripherals such as extra controllers and a good deal of 1st party and 3rd party software.  Their risks are much higher than ours... but they have the muscle and bank account to take those risks on the future.  We don't.

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

 

I skimmed through the article extremely quickly, so I might have missed it if it was mentioned (probably not) and I'm pretty sure you've talked about this before so forgive me if you have, but you guys are going to making a profit from each console sold, right?

Correct.

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

 

 

Pre-coronavirus, anyway, but you've mentioned waiting so you can keep the price under $249 if you need to. I remember you saying that you're probably going to lose a little bit of money on the FE now given the stuff that's happening. I'm not sure how much you'll be losing on each FE console (and how much is probably a company secret, so I won't ask),

It's because of all the extras we are offering with the FE... not the unit itself.  That $50 gift card comes at a price to us.  All of the licenses and developer royalties we will still have to pay.

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

but technically breaking even does actually indicate a success from a certain point of view, as that means you're doing well enough to continue operating, which gives you time to figure out how to make a profit.

We don't need time to figure out how to make a profit.  We know how.  We make a little on the machine itself and then make great games so that the attach rate is high.  Even though the average console purchases around $120 per year in software and the average mobile player is spending $80 per year on mobile... we set our projects even way underneath all of those.  We like to play the "conservative" numbers game.  Especially important when dealing with expert investors.  Our averages on everything are lower for success.  As the article mentioned... it's a great place to be in.

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

 

180000 is a low number and if you are at 10000 preorders already without spending any money on marketing, that's very interesting. Those 10000 preorders are not quite "10000 sales" yet since they haven't been paid in full, of course, but still, well done so far.

Agreed.  We can't count them as sales until the product ships and final payments are taken.  But looks VERY good to retailers, the press and investors.  Same is said about the purchase orders (as the article mentioned)... purchase orders and items sold through are 2 different things.  But we are currently set up for success!  We just need to execute on our plan.

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I remember the PS3 was sold at a huge loss (to be made up for in software sales) and I'm not sure about most other consoles, but if you look at things like razors and printers, those are usually sold at a loss and then they make it up with sales of razor blades, which is why those things are so damn expensive, and printer ink.

Keep in mind though... these hardware loses that everyone always talks about are typically only in year one or year two.  NOT during the lifetime of the product.  Only in the beginning. And if you look at the curve of when consoles REALLY start to take off and hit mainstream sales... it's typically by year 3.  So the clock starts ticking to get pricing lower and lower by manufacturing more units AND component and memory prices get cheaper along the way.

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I'd love to see the Amico profit margins, especially for the third party developers! Each game costs a different amount of money to make and will sell differently, of course, but it would still be interesting to see. I know, that stuff is secret since I'm pretty sure you're a private company, but still!

Yes.  All of that is private information and every game is pretty much different. 

8 hours ago, Relicgamer said:

Well I have alot of questions.  But obviously its hard to ask when something's very well could be hush hush till the system is released.  But heres my main question to all on here and if Tommy sees this and can shed light on this. 

Interactive roleplaying,  I see a big potential for this system having games like AD&D, old school Gamma world games like the more recent Star wars epic duels or miniatures being on the Amico. Custom dice you can roll out. Also using your voice to make commands. With this controller I'm super excited because it could be used to display your character sheet. Maybe make custom art to display your character visually.  By way of upload personal art to using a stylus on the controller to do the art on the tv. Just think you and your 7 buddies going on a quest or quests. 

As for old school gaming I would love to see Imagic come back with their hits and make completely new versions with physical copies with the chrome boxes. Please give me your thoughts and ideas good or bad. Whether you think its a cool idea or a bad one and why.

Hi!

Yep!  Imagic games have been confirmed!  Expect to see Microsurgeon, Beauty & the Beast and Demon Attack in the first wave.  Gotta do the silver boxes!! 

As to your first idea... we have talked about something like this as well... haven't figured out the solution just yet, but the opportunities and ideas are endless.  Once the brand and machine are established and in homes, I can see a lot of developers approaching us with fantastic ideas like this.

7 hours ago, YerOut said:

They sound more like fans.

 

Exactly.  They absolutely are to an extent.  Just a different type.  They just don't see it.

It's like the person who shows up to root against a particular wrestler or team.  They are still a "part" of what is going on.  If they truly didn't like it... they wouldn't take part at all.

Having passionate detractors only means we're on to something big.

6 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

and now with secret revealed maybe Tommy can bring back one of my all time, rare, but favorite Intellivisions games

 

 

 

HAHHAHAHHA!!  OMG!!  That is priceless!

I love how you nailed the art style as well.  Totally looks like it could have been real art from a box back then.  Holy crap that's good!

Hahahaha!  Love it!

5 hours ago, Barley Farquahr said:

Hello Tommy, and Everyone Else,

 

Long time lurker, first time poster. I finally found the time to put something together to share.
( SORRY in advance for the brain dump! )

Hi there!  I would see your name in the Recently Browsing list and always wondered who you were as I never saw you post.  Assumed you may have been a lurking hater or one of the fake accounts who frequents here to spy on us.

Hahahaha! 

Glad to know it's the opposite!

5 hours ago, Barley Farquahr said:

 

# 1 - Thanks Tommy to You, and all Your Team! Ever since I first began hearing about the new Intellivision Amico, I have been trying to spread the word to anyone I know that I think would appreciate this type of new gaming system. I have already put down money for a FE for myself, and a VIP for my In-Law's who still play their Wii religiously ( primarily bowling )

Thank you for your support!  And (I might add) yet another person who knows non-gamers who still play Wii bowling!  It was only a few weeks ago in here that we were told this doesn't really happen and we're doomed (even though we have the market research to back up the opposite).  So yes!  Thank you for sharing that.

5 hours ago, Barley Farquahr said:

 

# 2 - Thanks to All the members of 'The Posse of Positivity' who hang out at this forum! Y'All are the highlight of my day!

Yeah!  I agree!  It's the reason I continue to come here as well.  I think it says a lot about a persons personality when their only real reason to come to places like this just bad mouth me or a product they've never played.

Lucky for us (and the world!) these folks are not the average... in fact they're not even the small minority... they are literally a handful of unhappy folks in a sea of hundreds of thousands of people who are actually paying attention at this point.  Those type of folks don't understand they are the butt of "real world" jokes.  Often referred to as loser nerds who go on message boards to foster hate and negativity because they have nothing else going on in their lives.

You can see that the community of cool and funny and positive and informative folks keeps growing and growing.  The more positive... the more fun it becomes.  And that's not to say that having discussions about the merits of what Amico is.. isn't welcome.  It absolutely is!  A healthy and respectful debate makes keeps this place interesting as well.  It's when it crosses over to being hateful just to get a rise out of people or some kind of holy nerd vendetta that it gets ridiculous.  Luckily that is not the norm here. 

So welcome friend!  I hope to hear from you more.

5 hours ago, Barley Farquahr said:

 

# 3 - Tommy, I'm sure this has already been mentioned ad nauseum, but when I first saw the new console, and controllers, some of the ideas that popped into my head were games like :

 

A. - Battleship - Where the main T.V. screen starts out in a state of "The Fog of War" and each controller shows each players ships on their own battle grid, and as each player takes turns shooting, "The Fog of War" will dissipate, and if a 'hit' is registered, it would show a little bit more battle grid on the main T.V. screen than a 'miss' would illuminate

 

B. - Texas Hold 'Em - ( or most any other poker/card game ) The players cards are on the controller screen, and the 'shared' cards are on the main T.V. screen

 

C. - Shuffleboard - Where the controller is used to send the discs to the other end of the playing field

 

D. - Curling - ( For our Brothers and Sisters to the North ) where the controller could be used to simulate each of the motions used in the Curling game, either launching the rock, sweeping, etc.

 

E. - Pinball - Where the controller could be 'tapped' on the side to mimic bumping the pinball machine to affect the flight of the ball in the cabinet minimally

 

There's a bunch of other ones, but this is what this console has done for me is to make me think of all the possiblilities that are out there, and I just can't wait! My apologies if You've already heard/seen these, I'm late to the forum, and didn't go all the way back to the beginning and read all the posts, but wanted to share in case any of these ideas might prompt thoughts for You, or someone on Your Team there.

Yes!  We literally have all 5 of those on our "to do" list!  Here is the order of importance if you're curious.

Texas Hold 'Em

Shuffleboard

Battleship

Pinball

and way down on the list (but it's still there!) is Curling (sorry to all my Canadian friends!!!)  

5 hours ago, Barley Farquahr said:

 

THANKS AGAIN! Can't Thank Y'All enough for bringing back the system of my youth!

Thank YOU for being interested enough to come here and join in our fun and discussions!

5 hours ago, Barley Farquahr said:

 

p.s. - Congrats on all of You and Your Team's to date successes, and here's to wishing You MANY MORE!

 

May You All stay hale and healthy there Sir!

 

BF

Thank you!  It really means a lot.

4 hours ago, Kiwi said:

I think one feature that could be added is to add mini games to the Amico controller to bring with you.  It seems to have it own memory and firmware.  Something like 2D Missile Command, or maybe original Intellivision games could be brought with you on a bus, at work, on the loo, or while you're driving.  Overlay maybe a problem, but Intellivision resolution is small enough to fit in the touch screen and a small overlay that could be dismissed if the game primarily uses the disc and button. 

Not enough memory or frame rate refresh to do anything worth a damn.  One of the things for our Amico II drawing board.

That being said... if I can figure out a way to get an "easter egg" on there... I will.   Maybe a little original Astrosmash? 

4 hours ago, cmart604 said:

As a Canadian I like your curling recommendation. 😄

Damn you Canadians and your Curling!!

😂

25 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Don't think of just each unit sold as the profit or loss.  It's the attach rate of software that also factors into the profit & success.  For example.... if someone bought a PS5 and only ever bought one game for it... it would actually be a net LOSS for Sony (for that one particular unit).  But it also works the other way.  They may lose money on the hardware but the average console buyer spends $120 per year on software (real number) and $60 of that may be profit for Sony.  And factor in they all make 30% of EVERY piece of software sold on their platform.  So for them... it's not necessarily the profit on the unit from the get go... but the investment in the console over time.  This is why exclusives and 1st party titles are so important.  Our business model is very different from the others though.  And when you have companies like Microsoft spending $100 MILLION dollars just to create their controller (https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-11-20-xbox-one-pad-cost-usd100-million-in-r-and-d-microsoft) and spending tens of millions of dollars to develop franchises like Halo & Forza... their break even points (and their software prices) SKYROCKET compared to ours.  Not only do they need to sell millions and millions of units.  But they also need to sell peripherals such as extra controllers and a good deal of 1st party and 3rd party software.  Their risks are much higher than ours... but they have the muscle and bank account to take those risks on the future.  We don't.

 

 

 

Correct.

 

 

It's because of all the extras we are offering with the FE... not the unit itself.  That $50 gift card comes at a price to us.  All of the licenses and developer royalties we will still have to pay.

 

 

We don't need time to figure out how to make a profit.  We know how.  We make a little on the machine itself and then make great games so that the attach rate is high.  Even though the average console purchases around $120 per year in software and the average mobile player is spending $80 per year on mobile... we set our projects even way underneath all of those.  We like to play the "conservative" numbers game.  Especially important when dealing with expert investors.  Our averages on everything are lower for success.  As the article mentioned... it's a great place to be in.

 

 

Agreed.  We can't count them as sales until the product ships and final payments are taken.  But looks VERY good to retailers, the press and investors.  Same is said about the purchase orders (as the article mentioned)... purchase orders and items sold through are 2 different things.  But we are currently set up for success!  We just need to execute on our plan.

 

Keep in mind though... these hardware loses that everyone always talks about are typically only in year one or year two.  NOT during the lifetime of the product.  Only in the beginning. And if you look at the curve of when consoles REALLY start to take off and hit mainstream sales... it's typically by year 3.  So the clock starts ticking to get pricing lower and lower by manufacturing more units AND component and memory prices get cheaper along the way.

 

 

Yes.  All of that is private information and every game is pretty much different. 

 

 

 

I forgot the attach rate! Oops. I think the Sega Genesis actually has one of the highest attach rates in history. Yay, Sega!

Thanks for the detailed response! I wasn't implying that you guys don't know how to generate a profit, by the way! I meant in terms of any business in general.

You guys seem to be doing a great job so far, and I'm looking forward to it.