Information About3do |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT THE 3DO COMPANY | |
| defunct video game companies | |
| 3do company, the | |
| united states video game companies | |
| 3d0 company, the | |
| companies established in 1991 | |
| 2003 disestablishments | |
The 3DO Company (formerly THDO on the NASDAQ stock exchange), also known as '''3DO''', was a Video Game Console developer and Third-party Game Developer . It was founded in 1991 under the name '''SMSG, Inc.''' (for San Mateo Software Games) by Electronic Arts co-founder Trip Hawkins in a partnership with seven other companies, including Matsushita , AT&T , MCA , Time Warner , and Electronic Arts . HISTORY Console developer When the company was first founded, its original objective was to create a next-generation, CD-based Video Game System which would be manufactured by various partners and licensees; 3DO would collect a royalty on each console sold and on each game manufactured. To Game Publishers , the low $3 royalty rate per game was a better deal than the higher royalties paid to Nintendo and Sega when making games for their Consoles . The launch of the platform in October, 1993 was well-promoted, with a great deal of press attention in the mass media as part of the " Multimedia wave" in the computer world at the time. Unfortunately the 3DO Console itself was priced at $700, and the promised "early adopters" never showed up to purchase mass quantities of Game s. When Sony announced they were coming out with the PlayStation 3DO refused to compete with the honored company and abandoned the 3DO and the M2 project. In 1996 , The 3DO Company sold its next generation console, codenamed M2 , to Matsushita and changed its business to develop and publish games for other game consoles and PCs . Third-party developer After abandoning the 3DO console the company acquired Cyclone Studios, Archetype Interactive and '', which survives on to this day at the hands of some of the game's original developers. With the exception of its well-received '' High Heat Baseball '' franchise, most of the company's games were critically panned and failed to catch on with many consumers who eventually avoided purchasing sequels to the earlier 3DO games that disappointed them. 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 older brands and the company's "Internet Patent Portfolio ". Trip went on to found Digital Chocolate , a mobile-based gaming company. EXTERNAL LINKS 3DO no longer has an official homepage
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