Hardware developer (1991-1996) system 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 specified as the
3DO, 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 3DO Company and its initiative received the backing of several industry figures including
AT&T, Electronic Arts,
Goldstar, Matsushita (owner of
Panasonic),
MCA, and
Time Warner. The launch of the first 3DO system 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 first player being a
Panasonic model at the price of
US$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. 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.
Third-party developer (1996-2003) 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 restructured to focus on software development and online gaming, in the process cutting its 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. The M2 would never launch in the end, as Matsuhita cancelled it in 1997. After selling the M2 technology to Matsushita, the company acquired
Cyclone Studios,
New World Computing, and Archetype Interactive. 3DO established a new office in
Redmond, Washington devoted to PC games development, with
Tony Garcia as its head. In mid-1997 it sold off its hardware business to
Samsung for $20 million, making a final break from its origins as a console developer. 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.
Heroes of Might and Magic III (1999) saw unexpected success in Eastern Europe due to its low performance requirements, hotseat multiplayer and a fortituous decision to localise the game in Polish and Russian. In May 1999, 3DO opened up a European branch, entitled 3DO Europe.
Bankruptcy and legacy 3DO struggled in the early 2000s. According to the SEC, the company reported a net loss of over $10m in the nine months to December 2002. The company filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 28, 2003. Employees were laid off without pay. Three companies explored buying the company outright, but an ongoing SEC investigation into the accounting practices of the industry made this less attractive. Instead, the company's assets were put up for sale in an auction. Many of the assets such as game brands and other
intellectual property were sold to rivals like
Microsoft (
High Heat Baseball),
Namco (
Street Racing Syndicate),
Take-Two Interactive (
Army Men) and
Ubisoft (
Might and Magic,
Heroes of Might and Magic). Founder Trip Hawkins paid $405,000 for rights to some old brands and the company's "Internet
patent portfolio". The
Army Men brand sold for $750,000, then a high amount in games acquisition terms. The company was void from early 2003, but its registered securities continued to exist until the conclusion of the SEC investigation in 2008. The SEC issued trading restrictions and revoked the securities in December 2008. Some of the former 3DO IPs remained active for years after the studio's closure. The
Army Men franchise was
in use on console till 2008 and continued longer on mobile, concluding with
Army Men Strike: Toy Wars in 2017. The
Might and Magic franchise is still active under Ubisoft as of 2026. In April 2020, the rights to over 30 classic 3DO titles were purchased from Prism Entertainment by Ziggurat Interactive, a company which specialises in re-releases of older games. The company cited a desire to bring more classics to digital storefronts, and broader efforts towards
game preservation. Their work has included the remastered
Killing Time, which was released in 2024. ==List of games==