Atari acquired the Intellivision brand, effectively ending the rivalry between the original consoles that dated back to the 1970s.
Atari announced today that it has acquired the Intellivision brand and select games from Intellivision Entertainment LLC, which has been working on the Amico console for years.
However, this deal does not include Amico: instead, Intellivision Entertainment LLC will continue as a separate company, rebranded, and continue development of Amico with a license from Atari, and release Intellivision games on Amico.
The Intellivision (“Intelligent Television”) console was released by Mattel in 1979 and went head-to-head with the Atari VCS (later renamed the Atari 2600), helping to start the first-ever video game console wars. Now that both brands are under the same company, the rivalry is effectively over.
“After 45 years, Atari and Intellivision's merger brings an end to the longest console war in history,” said Mike Mika, head of Atari-owned Digital Eclipse studio.
Atari CEO and Chairman Wade Rosen added: “This was a very rare opportunity for former competitors to unite and fans of Atari, Intellivision, and the Golden Age of Gaming to come together. ”
With this acquisition, Atari will own the rights to the more than 200 titles in Intellivision's portfolio, as well as the Intellivision brand and trademarks.
The company has already begun to capitalize on the acquisition by adding Intellivision-branded items to the Atari online store.
“Atari is a valued partner and we are confident they will be responsible stewards of the storied Intellivision brand,” said Phil Adam, CEO of Intellivision Entertainment.
“We look forward to expanding our collaboration and bringing a wide range of new Atari and Intellivision titles to the Amico and Amico Home family of gaming platforms.”
The Amico system was originally scheduled to launch in October 2020, but was delayed to April 2021 and then again to fall 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company began selling eight boxed launch games in October 2021, even though the console's release date hasn't been determined yet.
Recently, Intellivision released Amico Home. This is an attempt to bring the Amico console experience to mobile without releasing any hardware. Amico Home is available for Android and an iOS version will be released as well.
However, according to today's news, the company, which is rebranding following Atari's acquisition of the Intellivision name, claims that the Amico console is still “currently in development.”
