The 3DO Company

The 3DO Company

The final logo used from 1997 until May 2003pĥz
Former type	Public
Industry	Video games
Fate	Bankruptcy
Founded	September 1, 1991
Defunct	May 2003
Headquarters	Redwood City, California, U.S.
Key people	Trip Hawkins, RJ Mical
Subsidiaries	New World Computing

The 3DO Company (formerly THDO on the NASDAQ stock exchange), also known as 3DO, was an American video game publisher and developer. It was founded in 1991 under the name SMSG, Inc. (for San Mateo Software Group) by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, in a partnership with seven companies including LG, Matsushita (now Panasonic), AT&T Corporation, MCA, Time Warner, and Electronic Arts. After its flagship video game console, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, failed in the marketplace, the company exited the hardware business and became a third-party video game developer, until it went bankrupt in 2003 due to poor sales of its games. Its headquarters were in Redwood City, California in the San Francisco Bay Area.

History

Console developer

Panasonic 3DO console

Trip Hawkins wanted to get into the hardware market after the software market exploded with interest thanks to his involvement at Electronic Arts. When the company was first founded, its original objective was to create a next-generation CD-based video game system called the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, which would be manufactured by various partners and licensees; 3DO would collect a royalty on each console sold and on each game manufactured. For game publishers, 3DO's $3 royalty per sold game was very low compared to the royalties Nintendo and Sega collected from game sales on their consoles. The launch of the console in October 1993 was well-promoted, with a great deal of attention in the mass media as part of the "multimedia wave" in the computer world.

The 3DO console launched in October 1993 at the price of $699. Poor console and game sales trumped the enticingly low royalty rate and proved a fatal flaw. While 3DO's business model attracted game publishers with its low royalty rates, it resulted in the console selling for a price higher than the SNES and Sega Genesis combined, hampering sales. While companies that manufactured and sold their own consoles could sell them, at a loss, for a competitive price, making up for lost profit through royalties collected from game publishers, the 3DO's manufacturers, not collecting any money from game publishers, and owing royalties to the 3DO Company, had to sell the console for a profit, resulting in high prices. As the console failed to compete with its cheaper competitors, game developers and publishers, while initially attracted by low royalties, dropped support for the console as its games failed to sell. Stock in the 3DO Company dropped from over $37 per share in November 1993 to $23 per share in late December. Though the company's financial figures dramatically improved in the fiscal year ending March 1995, with revenues nearly triple that of the previous fiscal year, they were still operating at a loss. The console's prospects continued to improve through the first half of 1995 with a number of critical success, including winning the 1995 European Computer Trade Show award for best hardware. In January 1996, The 3DO Company sold exclusive rights to its next generation console, M2, to Matsushita for $100 million. Thanks in part to revenues from the sale of M2 technology to Matsushita and other licensees, in the first quarter of 1996 the 3DO Company turned a profit for the first time since it was founded, with a net income of $1.2 million. Over the second half of 1996, the company changed its business and restructured itself as a third-party video game developer for other video game consoles and PC; in the process it would cut its number of staff from 450 to 300 employees. President Hugh Martin was given full operating control, while Hawkins remained with the company as chairman, CEO, and creative director.

Third-party developer

After selling the M2 technology to Matsushita, the company acquired Cyclone Studios, New World Computing, and Archetype Interactive. They established a new office in Redmond, Washington devoted to PC games development, with Tony Garcia as its head. The company's biggest hit was its series of Army Men games, featuring generic green plastic soldier toys. Its Might and Magic and especially Heroes of Might and Magic series from subsidiary New World Computing were perhaps the most popular among their games at the time of release. During the late 1990s, the company published one of the first 3D MMORPGs: Meridian 59, which survives to this day in the hands of some of the game's original developers.

After struggling for several years, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2003. Employees were laid off without pay, and the company's game brands and other intellectual properties were sold to rivals like Microsoft, Namco, Crave and Ubisoft, and also to founder Trip Hawkins, who paid $405,000 for rights to some old brands and the company's "Internet patent portfolio". Hawkins went on to found Digital Chocolate, a mobile-based gaming company.

List of games

Developed

Title	Alternative title	Notes
3DO Games: Decathlon
Army Men		PC version.
Army Men: Air Attack	Army Men: Air Combat (on N64)	PC, Nintendo 64, and PlayStation version.
Army Men: Air Attack 2	Army Men: Air Attack - Blade's Revenge (in EU)
Army Men: Air Combat - The Elite Missions
Army Men: Air Tactics
Army Men: Green Rogue	Army Men: Omega Soldier (in EU)
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2		Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 version.
Army Men: Toys in Space	Army Men in Space (in EU)
Army Men: World War
Army Men: World War - Final Front	Army Men: Lock 'n' Load (in EU)
Army Men: World War - Land, Sea, Air
Army Men: World War - Team Assault
Army Men 3D
Army Men II		PC version.
BattleTanx		Nintendo 64 version.
BattleTanx: Global Assault
Crusaders of Might and Magic
Dragon Rage
Escape from Monster Manor
Family Game Pack Royale	Family Game Pack (on PS)
Godai Elemental Force
Groovy Bunch of Games
Gulf War: Operation Desert Hammer
High Heat Major League Baseball 2002		PC, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 version.
High Heat Major League Baseball 2003		PC and PlayStation 2 version.
High Heat Major League Baseball 2004
Jonny Moseley Mad Trix		PlayStation 2 version.
Killing Time
Meridian 59: Vale of Sorrow
Portal Runner		PlayStation 2 version.
Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001
Sammy Sosa Softball Slam
Shifters
Vegas Games 2000	Midnight in Vegas (in EU)	PlayStation version.
Warriors of Might and Magic		PC, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 version.
WarJetz	World Destruction League: WarJetz
World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks		PlayStation and PlayStation 2 version.

Published

Title	Developer(s)	NA	EU	Notes
Action Man: Destruction X (Licensed from Hasbro Interactive)	Blitz Games	No	Yes
Alex Ferguson's Player Manager 2001	ANCO	No	Yes
Army Men	Digital Eclipse	Yes	Yes	Game Boy Color version.
Army Men: Air Combat	Fluid Studios	Yes	Yes
Army Men: Operation Green	Pocket Studios	Yes	Yes
Army Men: RTS	Pandemic	Yes	PC/PS2	The GameCube version was co-produced with Coyote Developments Ltd..
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2	GameBrains/3d6 Games	Yes	Yes	Game Boy Color version.
Army Men: Turf Wars	Möbius Entertainment	Yes	No
Army Men 2	Digital Eclipse	Yes	Yes	Game Boy Color version.
Army Men Advance	DC Studios	Yes	Yes
Aqua Aqua	Zed Two	Yes	No
Arcomage	New World Computing	Yes	No
BattleTanx	Lucky Chicken Games	Yes	Yes	Game Boy Color version.
Chaos Overlords	Stick Man Games	Yes	Yes
Cubix: Robots for Everyone - Clash 'n Bash	Human Soft	Yes	No
Cubix: Robots for Everyone - Race 'n Robots	Blitz Games	Yes	PS only
Cubix: Robots for Everyone - Showdown		Yes	No
Gobs of Games	2n Productions	Yes	Yes	Also known as Games Frenzy in Europe.
Heroes Chronicles series	New World Computing	Yes	Yes
Heroes of Might and Magic (Game Boy Color)	KnowWonder Digital Mediaworks	Yes	Yes
Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff	New World Computing	Yes	Yes
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars		Yes	No
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Price of Loyalty	Cyberlore Studios	Yes	No
Heroes of Might and Magic III	New World Computing	Yes	Yes	Also known as Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia.
Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade		Yes	No
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death		Yes	No
Heroes of Might and Magic IV		Yes	Yes
Heroes of Might and Magic IV: The Gathering Storm		Yes	No
Heroes of Might and Magic IV: Winds of War		Yes	No
High Heat Baseball 1999	Team .366	Yes	No
High Heat Baseball 2000		Yes	No
High Heat Major League Baseball 2002	Möbius Entertainment	Yes	Yes	Game Boy Advance version.
High Heat Major League Baseball 2003		Yes	Yes
Jonny Moseley Mad Trix	GFX Construction/RTG Studios	Yes	Yes
Jumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative	NetDevil	Yes	No
Killing Time	Logicware	Yes	No	PC version
Legends of Might and Magic	New World Computing	Yes	Yes
Meridian 59	Archetype Interactive	Yes	No	First edition of the game (1995).
Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven	New World Computing	Yes	No
Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor		Yes	Yes
Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer		Yes	Yes
Might and Magic IX		Yes	Yes
Player Manager 2000	ANCO	No	Yes
Portal Runner	Handheld Games	Yes	No	Game Boy Color version.
Requiem: Avenging Angel	Cyclone Studios	Yes	No
Spaceward Ho! IV	GhostNose Software (Delta Tao licensed)	Yes	No
Sven-Göran Eriksson's World Cup Challenge	ANCO	No	Yes	PlayStation and PlayStation 2 version.
Sven-Göran Eriksson's World Cup Manager		No	Yes
TOCA Championship Racing	Codemasters	Yes	No
Uprising: Join or Die	Cyclone Studios	Yes	No
Uprising 2: Lead and Destroy		Yes	No
Uprising X		Yes	No
Vegas Games	Digital Eclipse	Yes	Yes	Game Boy Color version.
Vegas Games 2000	New World Computing	Yes	No	PC version. Also known as Vegas Games: Midnight Madness.
Warriors of Might and Magic	Climax	Yes	Yes	Game Boy Color version.
World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks	Sunset Entertainment	Yes	Yes

Canceled

• Army Men: Arcade Blasts
• Army Men: Platoon Command
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Distributed (U.S. only)

• Pinball Builder: A Construction Kit for Windows
• Pinball Gold Pack

3DO Rating System

The 3DO Rating System was a rating system created by The 3DO Company and used on games released for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. The rating system, which went into use in March 1994, uses the following four categories:

• E - Everyone
• 12 - Guidance for age 12 & under
• 17 - Guidance for age 17 & under
• AO - Adults Only

These ratings would appear on the lower front and back of the packaging, while the back of the packaging also specified what content was present in the game. In late 1994, the majority of 3DO's competitors signed on with a new rating system from the Entertainment Software Rating Board; despite this, the 3DO Company opted to continue providing their own rating system, leaving publishers of 3DO games to decide whether to use the 3DO Rating System or the new ESRB ratings. The 3DO rating for each game was designated voluntarily by the game's publisher, in contrast to the ESRB ratings, which were determined independently by the ESRB.

External links

• 3DO.com on September 26, 2003 (courtesy of Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
• 3DO.com index at Internet Archive Wayback Machine
• 3DO profile on MobyGames

• https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/CBS/SearchResults?SearchType=CORP&SearchCriteria=3DO&SearchSubType=Keyword
• "Legal notices." 3DO Company. March 31, 2001. Retrieved on November 3, 2012. "The 3DO Company, 100 Cardinal Way, Redwood City, CA 94063."
• Ramsay, M. (2012). Trip Hawkins. Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play (pp. 1-15). New York: Apress.