What was EA thinking when they released the 3DO?

Azureth

Azureth

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Feb 29, 2008
Messages
5,323
Seriously, even had it happened to have had a plethora of the most amazing, visually stunning games to ever be made, how in the WORLD did they think they could get lots of people to buy it at it's $699 price point? Sure it had lots of other issues, but even if it had been God's gift to gaming surely they should have known releasing it at that price was INSANE and only wealthy or those relatively well off could afford it, especially for the time it was released. Yeah I know Sony had the PS3 released at the infamous $599 U.S dollars, but at least they had a track record of making consistently good systems and games.

Yet EA honestly thought they could get away with it despite not having any of those. Not to mention the competitors that already did have a good track record with a lower price. It just boggles my mind no one slapped Trip Hawkins upside the head.
 
The 3DO was not made by EA, but the 3DO company was founded by the original founder of Electronic Arts Trip Hawkins (linky 1, linky 2).

I think the 3DO is kind of like the Xbox ONE today. It tried to be a lot of things and cram as much technology as possible into the console when at the time video games were still seen as toys. People just could not justify spending that much money on what they considered a toy. Gaming consoles are much more ubiquitous and accepted by the mainstream nowadays, especially as they try to integrate all of the social and streaming media into one device that (Microsoft) wants to be at the center of your media center.
 
Last edited:
It wasn't EA. It was the 3DO company. Sure, it was headed by EA founder Trip Hawkins, but it still wasn't EA. It was aimed at a higher market, much like the Neo-Geo was. They just didn't foresee how quickly their slight technological lead would go away.

Also, stop spewing nonsense. Close the fanboi conspiracy forums for a bit and read up on some actual business and economics. There was more to what happened than you realize.
 
EA didn't make the 3DO. Hell, 3DO didn't even make the 3DO, they just licensed out the specs to companies like Panasonic and Sanyo. I sort of agree with the OP, there's no reason for this thing to have been released, I mean why would anybody want to compete with Samsung and Apple, they dominate the marketplace and it's already oversaturated.
 
I bought one dirt cheap right after it failed. I don't know how many hours I put in on the original Need for Speed and Roadrash. Both were just awesome for the time. The quiz game that came with it too was a riot. I probably put the most time in the little tank game that came with bomberman though. With up to 8 players IIRC all chained together it made for some insane multiplayer games.

The price really did kill it though, and being too underpowered compared to the PS1 that came out a bit later.
 
I bought a Neo Geo for full price and a bunch of games at the time. It wasn't exactly cheap at the time as it was $649. :) Hell the games were $200 each. I was going to get a 3DO, but I was too busy installing 12" subs and Phoenix Gold amps in all of my cars. I wasn't well to do or rich. Just an arcade and pinball hero that loved games.
 
It was a poor choice. I don't know what the scene was like in North America. In the UK, most children actually paid for, or got their parents to partially subsidize consoles and games. I only got games on birthdays and at Christmas etc.

In retrospect, at the time, it was quickly apparent that the most important factor that determined the life of a console, was having a games library for it. Kids were very savvy to what console was trending and what a revolutionary console design was. Shit, I remember the Neo Geo ( cartridge ) being seen as Willy Wonka's golden ticket, since it was the closest to an arcade port but hardly anyone could afford the system or the games. I knew one guy who had one but I never got to even touch one.

Neo Geo was like a legendary dragon that everyone had heard of but nobody had seen. I guess this would have been called the AES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo

There are so many dead consoles from that era though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Lynx

There's no way that 3DO was ever going to compete against SNES / Genesis. It was dead in the water.
 
Back in the early console days, manufacturers actually expected to make money per unit sold hence the cost of each console was high. Today the story is different and console makers actually take a loss on each unit sold and make money on software and peripherals. If they reverted back to that model you would see Xbox Ones and PS4's sold for at least 500+ without any extra stuff. They don't do this because the market does not support such a high price point especially when trying to maximize install base. High install base + potential customers for software = Profit
 
I liked the idea behind the 3D0, making a set list of specs but then having other hardware vendors build the hardware (Panasonic, Goldstar) seemed pretty smart to me. Sure it didn't pan out as the prices were rather atrocious, but it reminds me similarly to what Valve is doing with their Steam Machine initiative.

Plus the 3D0 played a mean game of D&D Slayer.
 
Is this a troll thread? 3DO released the 3DO, not EA.

What was Nintendo thinking when they released the Sega Saturn?
 
funny thing is the 3DO is sort of highly regarded today as a good system, a failed gem.
 
What was Britney thinking when she released The King of Limbs?
 
I can remember when I was 14 or so when that came out, I had money saved up from some summer job I was doing and I bought it. I ended up returning it a few days later though
 
Too bad EA as a company had nothing to do with the hardware.
 
fwiw, it had the best version of Street Fighter 2 at the time. (which is the reason I bought one)

also from what I remember Trip left EA to startup 3DO. could be way off tho
 
EA don't care about nothing =) $$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Actually Battlefield 4 is fun

when EA bought Ultima Online that ruined the game.....


3DO was before I had a job
 
The 3DO was very advanced for its time. I liked the controller a lot too.
When you consider how much a crappy 386 PC was back then. (I think I am getting my timeline right) then the 3DO was not a bad deal. The PS1 had not been released yet and the closest thing power-wise was the Neo Geo, another very high priced console.
Then the PS1 happened killing the 3DO and the Saturn.

I can still remember playing the 3DO the first night I had it. Good times....
 
The thing I liked about the 3do is that it introduced me to Star Control 2. Still my all time favorite space RPG.
 
also, not sure when in the timeline but NEC released their CD-Rom add on to the Turbografx. This was also a super expensive item, like $450 or so. It was pretty cool. I think there was a SF2 version for it, and Ys was amazing on that.

As I rememeber these things I can recall always sitting on the floor as I played these games. Strange but the "gaming" chair hadn't been invented yet. :)
 
Armenius said:
FTFY further ;).
Click to expand...

You didn't need to fix that. Any gamer worth their salt knows there is only one real Origin, and it isn't the digital store EA schemed up to retain the namesake and prevent Richard Garriott from ever getting it back.
 
I never played the 3DO, I did know someone that had the NeoGeo which was fun, I wish I still had my original Turbographix 16 though
 
I liked the Lynx.. TC Surf Designs was pretty addicting. Had a TG16 portable too.
 
NEO-GEO was huge in Japan, 3DO eh not so much, but I spent probably a hundred thousand yen or so in the arcades just playing World Hero's 1 and 2. Not too mention King of Fighters....
 
Sodapopjones said:
NEO-GEO was huge in Japan, 3DO eh not so much, but I spent probably a hundred thousand yen or so in the arcades just playing World Hero's 1 and 2. Not too mention King of Fighters....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wonder if Neo Geo hadn't obsessed with fighting games if they would appealed to a broader audience.

They were all great games though. Even Fatal Fury was good.
 
HardUp4HardWare said:
Yeah, I wonder if Neo Geo hadn't obsessed with fighting games if they would appealed to a broader audience.

They were all great games though. Even Fatal Fury was good.
Click to expand...

Well SNK wanted to stay 2D when graphics went 3D. That's what killed them. ;(
 
Road Rash was soooo addicting at the time! I think it was mainly the killer music that made it so appealing.

Then there was the classic "Wheel.....Of......Torture!" - from one of those zany multi-player games they launched...LoL.

And what was that fight game....with the trippy acid level....and that character "The Wombat"...haha
 
It was actually a pretty good system and had some pretty innovative games. I think Hell was the first RPG I completed. Games like Braindead 13 and Alone in the Dark were pretty damn good. Also, Slam n Jam and Gex were awesome! I bought the system when it was around $250 and really enjoyed it until the PS1 came out.
 
Last edited:
Need for Speed on 3DO was definitely the next-gen leap for racing games at the time. I think that game single-handedly launched the "racing game" as we know it today, since prior to that they were almost all just rehash of the pseudo-3D Hang-On/Rad Racer etc. type of game (Road Rash was pseudo-3D, too). The fact that you could do smokey burnouts leaving skidmarks all over the road was truly revolutionary at the time.
 
Xerack said:
Road Rash was soooo addicting at the time! I think it was mainly the killer music that made it so appealing.

Then there was the classic "Wheel.....Of......Torture!" - from one of those zany multi-player games they launched...LoL.

And what was that fight game....with the trippy acid level....and that character "The Wombat"...haha
Click to expand...

The only fighting game I really remember for 3DO was Street Fighter and Way of the Warrior.
 
i love my 3D0 i still have it and it still works.

0523130055-00.jpg

0523130056-01.jpg

0523130056-00.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top