Tommy Tallarico, the founder of Intellivision Entertainment and its CEO since the company formed in 2018, has stepped down from the role of CEO, to be replaced by former chief revenue officer Phil Adam.
According to a statement provided by the company, Tallarico will remain on board as the company's president, as well as its largest shareholder.
"As a 30+ year industry executive, I am excited to transition into the CEO role at Intellivision," Adam said. "As a business closing in on the last phase before launch, Tommy felt it important to provide focused roles so he can continue to do the things he loves the most. As always, we will be working hand in hand to bring Amico to the market."
Intellivision said in a statement to IGN that the management shift came in tandem with the beginning of the production of the Intellivision Amico console and that the move was "to better align its resources with those new challenges."
The Amico has struggled to get out the door thus far, with Intellivision announcing three separate delays to its release since the console's original planned launch in October 2020. It was most recently pushed to the end of 2021, but that too has come and gone and the console is still not in the wild as of February 2022. IGN Middle East was able to go hands-on with the console in May of 2021.
In November, Intellivision said the console had 6,000 pre-orders to be filled before wider distribution. Boxed games for the Amico went on sale back in October of 2021, including Evil Knievel, Dynablaster, Missile Command, Rigid Force, Redux Enhanced, Moon Patrol, Finnigan Fox, Biplanes, Brain Duel.
Tallarico himself has been a controversial figure, publicly going after journalists who have reported on or critiqued the Amico on numerous occasions and once prompting the SEC to ask for clarification after he boasted that the co-founder of Xbox — who had already left Intellivision Entertainment — was working for the company. In a response to IGN's request for comment on his stepping down, Tallarico said the move would allow him to "stay focused on creativity and continue to lead the vision and focus on the games and hardware."
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
