The Intellivision Amico has been delayed again to the end of the year

The new family games console was due to release this fall

The Intellivision Amico console has been delayed for the third time.

Billed as “a unique video game system” for families and friends, Amico is based on the classic console from the 1980s from Mattel.

It was originally due to release in October 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed this back to April 2021, then again to Fall 2021.

Now, in an email to those who have pre-ordered the system, Intellivision has announced that the system will be delayed further, with pre-orders due to arrive by the end of the year.

“The team at Intellivision has been working tirelessly to bring Amico, our family-focused entertainment system, to eager households around the world”, the email reads.

“We’ve grown to a strong and stable company of more than 60 passionate team members spanning three continents, representing some of the industry’s best talent. All of us are extremely excited to share Amico with you.

“We originally planned to launch Amico in the Fall of 2020 but had to adapt during the midst of the global pandemic disrupting our production.

“Despite our best efforts, and now facing new unprecedented international component supply and logistics challenges beyond our control, we want to apologise as we are forced to push our desired launch date yet again.

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“In spite of these supply hurdles hampering our ability to fill all orders, we are focused and determined to deliver pre-ordered units by the end of the year. This will also allow us more time to optimise our operating system for future game development.

“We want to ensure that those who have anticipated the Amico for so long, get a chance to enjoy it as soon as possible. Of course, we will keep all of our customers and interested parties informed and updated on our continued progress. ”

Intellivision says that everyone who has pre-ordered will be getting “a very special thank you gift via email next week” as an apology for the further delay.

In an extensive interview with VGC earlier this year, Intellivision CEO Tommy Tallarico explained that the Amico is specifically aimed at families, in that its entire ecosystem and game library revolves around safe, family-friendly gaming.

To accomplish this, every game in the Amico library has to meet a set of criteria, including no extreme violence, sexual content, bad language, DLC, microtransactions or in-game ads. Every game will be rated E for Everyone (or PEGI 7 in Europe), and every game will include local co-op play.

Intellivision shared more information on the Amico’s launch plans in May, with more than 20 titles planned for the game’s digital store on day one and eight of these getting physical ‘special edition’ releases.