Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

5 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

Video gone. What was it?

JasperAK,

The video is working now.  It was the podcast from OEB Pete.

I dusted off my Wii a few weeks ago and  did a quick mod. Installed a a few games that I wanted to play. The one's that I ended up playing the most were: Dragon's Lair Trilogy.  So fun.  I know the size is prohibitive, for a standard game, but I could see a special edition with a USB drive attached to a mini Arcade cabinet. Giving you the option to install on your system.  It's something that I'd love to see on the Amico. If the first one is successful, I can see you doing Space Ace and others.

Another game I'd love to see a new version of is Return Fire. I think it may have been brought up before. But I wanted to throw it back out. Here is a review of all 2(almost 3) versions that came to consoles:

While this may be a bit too adult for the Amico, I'm sure it could be toned down and still kick in the fun. Add more vehicles. This would be a fun multiplayer game.

3 hours ago, JasperAK said:

Video gone. What was it?

Should be back up, I take it down once the stream is over to do the regular YouTube thingys to it  

9 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I figured it was about time for another Fig.co update. Back in July when I last posted the Fig investment about in Intellivision (pre-orders not included) was $3.84 million. Now, as of 10/4/2020 the amount has steadily grown by almost $2 million dollars to 5.79 million. That is roughly $650,000 a month growth. Again, this isn't for consoles, you could pledge $1,000,000 in Fig Funds and you won't receive a single Amico. Instead you would receive an investment in Intellivision Entertainment via a shared stock pool being put together by Republic (Fig.co).

 

These numbers are pretty impressive considering the continued soft Covid economy: the US 2nd quarter 2020 GDP plunged 31.4% and the September unemployment numbers were still double January 2020 numbers. Bottom line this means Intellivision continues to win investment support; which means more games, more employees, more licenses and more marketing dollars for launch. In other words, good news for console buyers even if you don't care about the numbers.

 

 

 

That's terrible news for the haters. Many of them consider the Amico a 100% crowdfunding effort, even implying that Intellivision Entertainment suddenly added all the Founders Edition and VIP Editions to the data of this site a few months ago to fake the numbers.

Even if you consider the Amico a project totally based on Fig.co crowdfunding (which is not) ignoring the rest of the money which is available to check in many sources, it would be among the top 50 biggest crowdfunding projects of all time.

These numbers are far superior to the pre-order money the company has received so far, even if you count the full value of each console (which has not been paid, so it can't count).

Time to move the goalposts again, I guess.

6 hours ago, OEB_Pete said:

Should be back up, I take it down once the stream is over to do the regular YouTube thingys to it  

Thank You all. Didn't realize I got in the middle of the timing. Keep up the good work everyone. You're doing very well.

On 10/3/2020 at 4:31 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Cornhole eh?  I hear that's a thing now.   

 

What card games do you typically play with your family.

 

Other folks can please feel free to answer that one as well.

 

Thanks!

 

I'm very late to this one:

Slamwich

Euchre

Cribbage

Michigan Rummy

Gin Rummy

Fluxx

Onirim

Games we can play with my 6 year old:

Clock Patience

Spit

War

Old Maid

Kings in the Corner

And of course....Pokemon Sun and Moon 😂 He and his friends are obsessed with it.

Good to know about the warranty for Amico.  Thanks Pete for asking that question.  

5 days to go.  Begin the countdown.

1 hour ago, Intellivision Master said:

Good to know about the warranty for Amico.  Thanks Pete for asking that question.  

If you're talking to Activision, I know the Pitfall and River Raid trademarks might bring the most value, but for gameplay you should be asking about the Dreadnaught Factor.

On 10/3/2020 at 1:31 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Cornhole eh?  I hear that's a thing now.   

 

What card games do you typically play with your family.

 

Other folks can please feel free to answer that one as well.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi Tommy, my son and I like to play Crazy 8s, War and the occasional game of Exploding Kittens.  Crazy 8s, a classic card game, seem to be the favorite.

9 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

That's terrible news for the haters. Many of them consider the Amico a 100% crowdfunding effort, even implying that Intellivision Entertainment suddenly added all the Founders Edition and VIP Editions to the data of this site a few months ago to fake the numbers.

 

Even if you consider the Amico a project totally based on Fig.co crowdfunding (which is not) ignoring the rest of the money which is available to check in many sources, it would be among the top 50 biggest crowdfunding projects of all time.

 

These numbers are far superior to the pre-order money the company has received so far, even if you count the full value of each console (which has not been paid, so it can't count).

 

Time to move the goalposts again, I guess.

Long timers here will know in the early days I beat everybody down with endless financial talk. The reason why was I evaluated Intellivision Entertainment like I would any startup. Here is what you look for 1) passion; 2) experienced team; 3) a solid business model and 4) sufficient funding. There is no question Tommy is super passionate and that is necessary for a startup. It is an intense grind and you can see the crap he has to put up with. Passion carries you though all of that. His team Mike Mika, Hans Ippisch, David Perry, Phil Adams, etc. plus now J Allard - is about as good as your could hope for with a video game startup. Their business model was better than I thought it was originally with low game dev costs, relatively low hardware costs and a better than 70% split on eStore revenue sales. So check, check, check.

Now lets look at financing. This is harder because Intellivision is small and privately held but just going from public info you can easy find that they did an initial series A for 3.7 million dollars. That is 'open the doors' money, that initial seed capital to start the venture and begin the process to attract more investors.

Now comes my opinion, take with a shaker of salt - but I do have 25+ years of business experience & a masters in economics & finance. After that I look for the the 'smell of money' to estimate further investment. Tommy himself lives in a multi million dollar home & drives a Ferrari and so could contribute some funding, but I doubt he is the primary funding source (not unusual, he is primarily the 'mover' not the 'money'). One of the biggest money smells is David Perry who is on the board and is an investor. He was co-founder of Gaikai which sold to Sony for $380 million. That is a significant cash out and could easily provide seed money for a startup like Intellivision. Next Tommy made an investor tour last winter. This took him to Dubai, India & China to meet investors and work on deals. The whole Dubai & India link with Intellivision, I suspect, has a lot to do with Sumeet Aggarwal (who is based out of both regions) and regional investors he may have helped bring to the table.

Also I have seen comments to the tune that Intellivison shouldn't be paying J Allard 'a big salary' just to make them look good. I would be amazed if J Allard didn't pay Intellivision for an investment chunk or at minimum took a stock deal to join (i.e. zero out of pocket expenses for IE). These Internet 'experts' have no idea how the startup scene works. In addition, this low or no pay likely applies to many of the top management positions at Intellvision, this is normal for a startup. It is big red flag for investors if startup management taking a big chunk out of payroll - commitment question marks immediately fire off. Investors want to invest in big products, not big payroll.

Finally lets look at financial needs. Launching a new console isn't cheap. Hardware development costs for something like this would be significant. Actually not so much for the console, which can rely somewhat on existing ARM designs, but the controllers are pure 'from scratch' and very unique. I would estimate $3 million+ in hardware design, at minimum, and most of that cost comes front loaded in making the console. Besides the hardware you need custom software for the OS and firmware. That is another huge chunk (multiple $100,000 CA engineer salaries x 3+ years). BTW when a business prices out a salary you always need to add 20% or more to what the job listed rate is. Why? payroll taxes and benefits. A $80,000 a year position costs a company $100,000 a year roughly. Then you have other expenses like rent, prototyping, HR, payroll, supplier/vendor relations, testing, etc. over about 3 years now. Next you get to the games, 30 games at $100,000 each dev cost is $3,000,000, 50 games is $5,000,000. However we aren't done with games, IE needs a fair amount in licensing. You think Hotwheels & Sesame Street is cheap or would say 'just pay us when you sell the games' for a system with a zero install base? No, you are paying up front AND you are paying when you sell the games. Finally you need a marketing budget, which Tommy has long stated is $10,000,000. If you add all of that up the funding for IE is probably somewhere between $20 and $35 million dollars. 

Now lets look the 'crowd funding' pre-orders. I am going to round them up to an even 13,000. Then you multiply by the $100 deposit and you get $1.3 million dollars. That isn't chump change BUT that also wouldn't cover a fraction of game dev costs, or hardware dev costs or even much of payroll at this point (I think Tommy said his current burn rate is like $300,000 a month). Either way the preorders are roughly 1/3 the SERIES A (initial) funding - assuming Intellivision never raised another dime. However if you combine Series A with the Fig Funds you get $9,490,000 which is 7 times greater than this 'crowd funding' amount. Again this is ONLY counting the published investment amounts and assumes Intellivision has no other investors.

Of course I am just a brainless Tommy fanboy and have put no thought or research into this at all, unlike the rest of these Internet natural born geniuses, so just disregard everything I have said. 🙄

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

Long timers here will know in the early days I beat everybody down with endless financial talk. The reason why was I evaluated Intellivision Entertainment like I would any startup. Here is what you look for 1) passion; 2) experienced team; 3) a solid business model and 4) sufficient funding. There is no question Tommy is super passionate and that is necessary for a startup. It is an intense grind and you can see the crap he has to put up with. Passion carries you though all of that. His team Mike Mika, Hans Ippisch, David Perry, Phil Adams, etc. plus now J Allard - is about as good as your could hope for with a video game startup. Their business model was better than I thought it was originally with low game dev costs, relatively low hardware costs and a better than 70% split on eStore revenue sales. So check, check, check.

 

Now lets look at financing. This is harder because Intellivision is small and privately held but just going from public info you can easy find that they did an initial series A for 3.7 million dollars. That is 'open the doors' money, that initial seed capital to start the venture and begin the process to attract more investors.

 

Now comes my opinion, take with a shaker of salt - but I do have 25+ years of business experience & a masters in economics & finance. After that I look for the the 'smell of money' to estimate further investment. Tommy himself lives in a multi million dollar home & drives a Ferrari and so could contribute some funding, but I doubt he is the primary funding source (not unusual, he is primarily the 'mover' not the 'money'). One of the biggest money smells is David Perry who is on the board and is an investor. He was co-founder of Gaikai which sold to Sony for $380 million. That is a significant cash out and could easily provide seed money for a startup like Intellivision. Next Tommy made an investor tour last winter. This took him to Dubai, India & China to meet investors and work on deals. The whole Dubai & India link with Intellivision, I suspect, has a lot to do with Sumeet Aggarwal (who is based out of both regions) and regional investors he may have helped bring to the table.

 

Also I have seen comments to the tune that Intellivison shouldn't be paying J Allard 'a big salary' just to make them look good. I would be amazed if J Allard didn't pay Intellivision for an investment chunk or at minimum took a stock deal to join (i.e. zero out of pocket expenses for IE). These Internet 'experts' have no idea how the startup scene works. In addition, this low or no pay likely applies to many of the top management positions at Intellvision, this is normal for a startup. It is big red flag for investors if startup management taking a big chunk out of payroll - commitment question marks immediately fire off. Investors want to invest in big products, not big payroll.

 

Finally lets look at financial needs. Launching a new console isn't cheap. Hardware development costs for something like this would be significant. Actually not so much for the console, which can rely somewhat on existing ARM designs, but the controllers are pure 'from scratch' and very unique. I would estimate $3 million+ in hardware design, at minimum, and most of that cost comes front loaded in making the console. Besides the hardware you need custom software for the OS and firmware. That is another huge chunk (multiple $100,000 CA engineer salaries x 3+ years). BTW when a business prices out a salary you always need to add 20% or more to what the job listed rate is. Why? payroll taxes and benefits. A $80,000 a year position costs a company $100,000 a year roughly. Then you have other expenses like rent, prototyping, HR, payroll, supplier/vendor relations, testing, etc. over about 3 years now. Next you get to the games, 30 games at $100,000 each dev cost is $3,000,000, 50 games is $5,000,000. However we aren't done with games, IE needs a fair amount in licensing. You think Hotwheels & Sesame Street is cheap or would say 'just pay us when you sell the games' for a system with a zero install base? No, you are paying up front AND you are paying when you sell the games. Finally you need a marketing budget, which Tommy has long stated is $10,000,000. If you add all of that up the funding for IE is probably somewhere between $20 and $35 million dollars. 

 

Now lets look the 'crowd funding' pre-orders. I am going to round them up to an even 13,000. Then you multiply by the $100 deposit and you get $1.3 million dollars. That isn't chump change BUT that also wouldn't cover a fraction of game dev costs, or hardware dev costs or even much of payroll at this point (I think Tommy said his current burn rate is like $300,000 a month). Either way the preorders are roughly 1/3 the SERIES A (initial) funding - assuming Intellivision never raised another dime. However if you combine Series A with the Fig Funds you get $9,490,000 which is 7 times greater than this 'crowd funding' amount. Again this is ONLY counting the published investment amounts and assumes Intellivision has no other investors.

 

Of course I am just a brainless Tommy fanboy and have put no thought or research into this at all, unlike the rest of these Internet natural born geniuses, so just disregard everything I have said. 🙄

 

 

Always enjoy reading your posts because it looks at this fantastic journey we have all been on in a different way.  I don’t have a background in financing or business so I can look at things like fig, or the business presentation award and other business related milestones and achievements Intellivision has had and I can say they seem like signs of good things to come but getting to see this information really dug into by someone with a background in it helps to improve on the understanding and I for one very much appreciate that insight.

11 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

 

That was a nice little video from Papa Pete.  I noticed that light up death star behind him, it's really cool.  I want one, lol.

Quote

30 games at $100,000 each dev cost is $3,000,000,

Perhaps porting a game from another system and doing some tweaks you could do for $100,000. Create a game from scratch? umm no way. even if you could bang it out in 6 months, a 4 or 5 person team salaries and benefits would be over 200,000 for those 6 months and that doesnt cover licensing and the whole host of other cost.  Software is lucrative for sure, but it cost some money to create the software upfront, talented people are not cheap. Indies do in on the cheap for sure, but they are a different animal and if they arent funded, usually create while losing money and pulling no salary or benefits, its not for the faint of heart.   Some like me, simply do it as a hobby and our real software job pays the bills.

1 minute ago, Intellivision Master said:

That was a nice little video from Papa Pete.  I noticed that light up death star behind him, it's really cool.  I want one, lol.

Good catch I didn't even notice that! I am a sucker for LED anything pretty much.

21 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

Perhaps porting a game from another system and doing some tweaks you could do for $100,000. Create a game from scratch? umm no way. even if you could bang it out in 6 months, a 4 or 5 person team salaries and benefits would be over 200 to 250,000 for those 6 months and that doesnt cover licensing and the whole host of other cost.  Software is lucrative for sure, but it cost some money to create the software upfront, talented people are not cheap.

Good point, I can guarantee you Earth Worm Jim isn't coming in at $100,000, not even counting licensing costs. Plus with the Intellivision model of providing programming, music/sound and graphics support the numbers can get even more muddled. For true cost accounting these shared resources (including overhead items like Hans herding those European developers and John Alvarado doing the API) need to be allocated across projects, which would bump actual costs beyond direct out of pocket to the contracted developers. Lots of moving parts, but even if you take my super conservative estimate, there is no way pre-orders is more than a fraction of even that one part of the overall project. 'Crowdfunded' is basically just words pulled out of someone's butt who is also bad at math and knows nothing about software development or business in general.

35 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We will be holding an Intellivision Amico SPECIAL LIVE EVENT this Saturday, 10/10 at 10:10am pacific time on the Intellivision YouTube channel.

 

Looking forward to it, and it gives me an excuse to skip some yard work, its a win win 

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

 

We will be holding an Intellivision Amico SPECIAL LIVE EVENT this Saturday, 10/10 at 10:10am pacific time on the Intellivision YouTube channel.

 

Major news! New hardware video! New game footage! Contests! Prizes! New demo to play! Live Q&A! And secrets revealed! You won't want to miss it!

 

Here's the LINK: https://youtu.be/2uumYPXXnD8

Set a YouTube REMINDER now so you won't forget.

 

Thanks for setting this up.  I kinda had a feeling something was coming on that day, but I was literally going to ask you today if you were going to do anything in lieu of the release.  

I'm looking forward to it!

On 10/4/2020 at 6:40 AM, oelli said:

Does the Amico support external Keyboard/Mouse connected via Bluetooth or USB so that some edutainment titles like learning to type with 10 fingers or learning programming could be made in the future?

Also for some kind of games this could be handy additional to the genuine controllers.

 

Also support for a music keyboard would be fine with Melody Blaster 2.0.

We currently don't have anything like that, but could easily be done down the road for sure.

On 10/4/2020 at 7:46 AM, vongruetz said:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-xbox-series-x-and-playstation-5-have-no-wild-ideas-and-its-a-bummer/1100-6482907/

 

Sounds like this guy really wants Amico but doesn't know it yet. A console with innovative controllers that are intuitive to use? That sounds familiar...

Thanks for the find!  I just reached out to him via Twitter PM.

On 10/4/2020 at 4:37 PM, GrudgeQ said:

I figured it was about time for another Fig.co update. Back in July when I last posted the Fig investment about in Intellivision (pre-orders not included) was $3.84 million. Now, as of 10/4/2020 the amount has steadily grown by almost $2 million dollars to 5.79 million. That is roughly $650,000 a month growth. Again, this isn't for consoles, you could pledge $1,000,000 in Fig Funds and you won't receive a single Amico. Instead you would receive an investment in Intellivision Entertainment via a shared stock pool being put together by Republic (Fig.co).

 

These numbers are pretty impressive considering the continued soft Covid economy: the US 2nd quarter 2020 GDP plunged 31.4% and the September unemployment numbers were still double January 2020 numbers. Bottom line this means Intellivision continues to win investment support; which means more games, more employees, more licenses and more marketing dollars for launch. In other words, good news for console buyers even if you don't care about the numbers.

 

 

 

Yeah... the FIG investment numbers are really impressive and they've been really happy with the huge response.  They are going to be pushing it to a whole bunch of new folks over the next month so you'll start to see that number go higher and higher.