Atari buys Intellivision ending the oldest video game console war | Mashable.
Atari buys Intellivision ending the oldest video game console war
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| Atari has acquired its first big competitor, Intellivision. Credit: Nano Calvo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images |
Nintendo vs. Sega, PlayStation vs. Xbox – the gaming industry has been full of competition for decades now, leading the top companies in the market to go head-to-head in what gamers have dubbed the "console wars."
However, one of the original console wars has finally come to an end, roughly around 45 years after either company's gaming system has been relevant. Atari has announced that it is acquiring the Intellivision brand along with "certain games" from Intellivision Entertainment LLC.
“Uniting Atari and Intellivision after 45 years ends the longest running console war in history,” said Mike Mika, Studio Head at the Atari-owned Digital Eclipse game studio in a statement.
While it's unclear exactly what Atari has planned for the Intellivision brand, it has announced its first project: A line of t-shirts available at Atari.com.
Atari vs. Intellivision console wars
The Intellivision gaming console was released in 1979 by Mattel Electronics and posed the first serious threat to the most popular gaming console at the time, the Atari 2600.
Mattel came out swinging at Atari in a way previous competitors had not. The company created a series of commercials and advertisements starring writer George Plimpton. The ads featuring Plimpton compared the two gaming consoles and promoted Intellivision's superior graphics and sound over Atari's console.
Mattel sold out of Intellivision consoles within a year. By 1990, around 5 million Intellivision consoles had been sold.
Eventually, however, both Atari and Intellivision would lose their positions atop the video game console market. Despite this, both continued to take advantage of their intellectual property and license their video games to companies like Nintendo and Sony.
The future of Intellivision
Atari's announcement doesn't give many details in terms of what it has planned for the Intellivision brand. However, nostalgia within the gaming world continues to run strong so it's likely that Atari plans to take advantage of Intellivison's game library. One interesting detail that was included in Atari's announcement was that it had not acquired Intellivision Entertainment LLC's Amico brand gaming console.
The Amico console was announced in 2018 after video game music composer Tommy Tallarico bought a stake in Intellivision and announced the company was planning to relaunch the Intellivision console. Eventually renamed Amico, the console was promoted as a simple gaming console that would target non-gamers and families.
A 2020 targeted release date was set, however, the Amico experienced various delays. As of 2024, the Amico has still not been released and it appears Atari had no interest in acquiring it.
According to Atari's announcement, Intellivision Entertainment LLC will rebrand itself and continue to pursue the Amico gaming console. In fact, Atari also shared that as part of the deal, Amico will have a license to distribute new Intellivision games for the Amico console.
In late 2023, it was reported that the company then known as Intellivision was facing financial difficulties in producing Amico units and were seeking funding. It appears a sale of the Intellivision brand to Atari may have been made to fund the Amico.
So, based on all that we can deduce that Atari is planning to release new games based on its newly acquired Intellivision brand and that the Amico console is still alive – for now.
Topics Gaming
This is amazing. The crazy thing is that Intellivision has been trying to relaunch these last couple of years with a casual console.
ReplyDeleteYou're missing some punctuation.
ReplyDeleteI had both originals and gave them to my son out of the storage room.
ReplyDelete😮
ReplyDeleteIt’s like Disney buying Fox.
ReplyDeleteYesterday ICQ, today this…
ReplyDelete👀😂
I can’t believe either of these companies still exist
ReplyDeletethey have to, it’s very expensive
DeleteHonest USA and Canada receivers needed urgently
ReplyDeleteIs this for real? I thought Atari was absorbed by the big and powerful Play station or Super nintendo, or perhaps they went bankrupt?
ReplyDeleteAnd here I am, just donated an unused fax machine to a Habitat of Humanity ReStore 😃
ReplyDelete👍
ReplyDeleteMallatt ammente
ReplyDeleteTerrapie
Look at my facebook story
ReplyDeleteI had already published this before
That would mean something if Atari wasn't a shambling zombie Shell corporation of a name.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's unclear exactly what Atari has planned for the Intellivision brand, it has announced its first project: A line of t-shirts available at Atari.com.
ReplyDeleteWhat a time to be alive
DeleteI was going to make a joke about them selling T-shirts before I even saw your comment.
DeleteI guess they can make as much off the brand as trying to invent something cool again.
DeleteLong game strategy.
ReplyDeleteI gave both companies hours in front of the TV on the carpet.
DeleteI played my Intellivision until my hands bled. SO much better than the Atari 2600.
ReplyDeleteSILENCE foul creature! Winking face with tongue 😜
DeleteAtari playing the long game. In 40 years they get Sega. 80? Nintendo. 120? Valve and they annex anyone who ever published a game on Steam.
ReplyDeleteSeems like an April fools joke, I wonder on amico console's future.
ReplyDeleteGood. Now get Coleco.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yn52NTdV0c
Had a 2600 in 79. I also had a 12" b&w tv that ran off a cigarette lighter jack.
ReplyDeleteMy friends on weekends would hang out in this parking lot (small town), and I rigged
up a DC adapter for the 2600 that would also work off the cigarette lighter jack.
We'd play games on that most of the evening.
The Amico is never gonna work. Doesn't have the appeal of a modern console or the nostalgia of a old one. They should rebuild the original Intellivision now with usb and hdmi like they have done with the 2600
ReplyDeleteThe controller for the Intellivision was a deal breaker. Couldn't stand that crazy thing. The Atari control stick was bad enough. No one had a good controller until the Nintendo 8bit systems. The NES controller was near perfect and the Famicom version was a bit more curved but that didn't matter much. It don't matter how good the games were, if the physical user interface it terrible, the system can not succeed much.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully, this will be entertaining, but not for Atari. I need a LOT of popcorn. And no, I'm not mocking them, I'm well aware of what the Amico debacle is all about, I'm just VERY curious as to what Atari will do.
ReplyDeleteAs the article says, Atari will be having nothing to do with the Amico. It's taking the Intellivision brand and games and leaving the Amico to the old company, which will change its name.
DeleteI had the Atari 2600, and frogger was the bees knees back then.
ReplyDeleteAtari won.
P.S the Atari Recharged series are great fun on the go..
Agreed. Atari, under Wade Rosen, have been making some clever acquisitions in Digital Eclipse and Nightdive Studios, but Intellivision? I can't see where the value lies there. Perhaps they just want a challenge..
ReplyDeleteFor me, the obvious immediate value in having complete access to the Intellivision name and games means there are no practically no barriers for Digital Eclipse to do an Intellivision 'interactive museum' in the same style as Atari 50, which I'd personally love to see.
DeleteWhile I would still doubt the commercial appeal of the Intellivision brand, I had totally not considered the possibility of a Digital Eclipse release. The Atari 50, Making of Karateka, and the Jeff Minter Story were all great. I hadn't even heard of Karateka but thoroughly enjoyed their Making of.
DeleteYeah, I don't think the brand on its own delivers a lot of potential, especially in Europe where the Intellivision was far less popular. Certainly seems like Atari is going all in on acquiring retro brands, though, and with Digital Eclipse and Nightdive on board I'm happy to see them scooping up any 'dead' IPs they can get their hands on, just in case they can breathe new life into them somehow. Would rather see something being done with it than nothing!
DeleteWorked for Nintendo & Sega.
ReplyDeleteOur long, national nightmare is over
ReplyDeleteI got a second hand Intellivision when I was 10 and played the hell out of it. Didn't buy another console until 25 years later, a Playstation One.
ReplyDeleteI had a 2600 but couldn't afford many cartridges. Me and my pals would play the Intellivision demo system at a local JC Penney all the time though. Drove the store employees crazy I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI used to play the Fairchild system at our JC Penney.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Channel_F
I got a giant blister on my thumb one time from playing the f1 racing game on that demo unit.
DeleteI honestly had no idea either of these companies still existed
ReplyDeleteA 45-Year console war in which both lost in the end
ReplyDeleteWhere both were irrelevant for 35 out of those 45 years.
Delete52 year old me: “Yes! In your face Intellivision!!”
ReplyDeleteHahaha. Screw you, Atari guy!!
DeleteThe amico was the worst concept ever devised by intellivision! Bankrupted them!
ReplyDeleteI’m sure the owner’s mother is very proud.
DeleteGuinness World Record for most proud mother
DeleteThey must be desk buddies at the same office co-op.
ReplyDeleteIntellivision was awesome in the 80's. couch gaming after dinner with friends. We actually used to have dinner party's.
ReplyDeletedoes tommy tallarico know ?
ReplyDelete... was he included in the sale ?
The included the pride of his mother in the sale
DeleteI’m surprised Atari is in the position to buy a cup of coffee, let alone a game developer.
ReplyDeleteIt's more accurate to say the company that bought Atari also bought Intellivision.
DeleteIt's Ship of Theseus Atari that bought Intellivision.
DeleteAlso in the news…VHS acquires Betamax
ReplyDeleteGod I wish I could find Intellivision games.
ReplyDeleteSame, tried the emulators but had a hard time getting them to work
DeleteEbay usually had some. I've got a bunch in storage
DeleteThey were working on the Amico console and the list of games is pretty long.
DeleteMy brother got a console with a bunch of games. The problem is, it’s nearly impossible to play due to the old tech. And the adapters don’t really cut it. You’re forced to play without the controller keypad. It just doesn’t work.
DeleteI loved intellivision.
ReplyDeleteUtopia rocked.
Delete"Ending 45-Year Console War" seems like a really weird take on the situation, considering a console hasn't been released under either name for 30+ years, and the fact that modern Atari is just a husk brand that has been passed around more than the flu during school season.
ReplyDeleteI read that as dry humor.
DeleteI remember wanting an intellivision so badly in 1980. On Christmas morning, I open a box and I got an Atari 2600.
ReplyDeleteDon’t get me wrong: I appreciate all the hard work my parents did to provide my sister and I with a very comfortable life and this was a great gift.
But the young gamer in me still hasn’t gotten over the disappointment almost 45 years later.
Is the Amico console canceled because of this?
ReplyDeleteIt would have to exist to be canceled.
Deletegood one
DeleteA friend of mine had an intellivesion when I was growing up. Weird controller. I do remember having fun with it though. There was some sort of dungeon game where you had arrows, and you hit a button and it clicked to let you know how many arrows you had left. The clicks were rapid and hard to count.
ReplyDeleteThat game was called Dungeons and Dragons. Had dome good scary music/sounds for its time
DeleteLoved that game
DeletePlayed the long game and I don’t think it has played out yet for them
ReplyDeleteI loved the football game. There was a play I think 1-3-9-7 that was banned by us because it old go for a touchdown everytime. It was like an option if they defended the runner, you threw it. Vice versa. Awesome
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Holy shit, yes!! You better hope you intercepted that pass from the top to the bottom of the screen! Because it was going all the way if you missed!
DeleteThere can only be one.
ReplyDeleteCover story of Electronic Games Magazine.
ReplyDeletePIXXX
ReplyDeletePIXXX
PIXXX
PIXXX
PIXXX
(iykyk)
1010 wins?
DeleteI was thinking WPIX channel 11. Their pix games. Was unaware if they did similarly on the radio.
Deletenope yer right i remember now
DeleteAs is custom, everyone ignores the Amiga and CD32.
ReplyDeleteNeither of which existed at the time these two were going at each other.
DeleteAnd George Plimpton sheds a single tear. Mattel had way better tech than Atari, but boy those controllers were not the slightest bit ergonomic.
ReplyDeleteBut what about Tommy talirico?
ReplyDeleteAtari is still around??
ReplyDeleteTIL Atari and Intellivision are still competing for last place.
ReplyDeleteActivision saved the Atari 2600 back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI heard it was for $37 and an assortment of stuffed owls
ReplyDeleteLmao is this Tommy tallarico's company
ReplyDeleteintellivision ii was my first console. river raid was the shit
ReplyDeleteHoly shit! Does this mean the intellivision Amico will actually see the light of day as a potentially better console?
ReplyDeleteNo. Atari's deal is only for the Intellivision brand and most of its games.
DeleteThe group handling Amico development will remain its own entity, and the Amico (if ever released) will not be able to use the Intellivision brand name.
I had the ColecoVision console when I was a kid, and it was great.. but looking back now it was probably a rip-off of the IntelliVision console..
ReplyDeleteBut it did have the first ever Mario/Donkey Kong game which was kind of fun.
I had Colecovision also. Did you ever play Montezuma's Revenge? That game is one of my all time favorite games.
DeleteNa, I live in Ireland and got it from a guy who bought it in the UK, and none of the shops close to me sold any games. So I was stuck with the games I got with it: Donkey Kong, Mr Do, and Zaxxon.
DeleteThere was the option to buy games from the UK, ordering them from a booklet I got with the console, and sending them money, but I never got around to it.
I think the games were about £40 +P&P, which was a hell of a lot back in the 80s!
I eventually ended up buying an Atari 2600 instead, it was a crappier console but there were a lot more games available for it.
This is the console war equivalent of that Japanese soldier who refused to surrender 29 years after the war had ended.
ReplyDeleteColecoVision enters the chat
ReplyDeleteWe had a neighborhood kid with Atari, we had the intellivision. We would rotate houses and play each other's games. What a great time to be alive. Now I have to go to work :(
ReplyDeleteI am having sensory memories of being at my grandmother's apartment playing Intellivision. The controllers were one of a kind. I spent so much time playing Night Stalker.
ReplyDeleteAtari will be back. Blade Runner predicted it 😎
ReplyDeleteAssuming you pretend either company is actually the one they claim to be.
ReplyDeleteBoth "Atari" and "Intellivision" bought the name and are otherwise completely different companies than the ones that put out consoles in the 70s and 80s.
Finally, PPHHEEWW!
ReplyDelete