3DO single biggest mistake...

Post by **3DOKid** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:01 am

What do you reckon it was?

I'm going to say, too early. Another 18 months and the option for more powerfull 3D processing would have been available to 3DO. Then it would have competed better with the Saturn and the PS1. 3DO would still be around today I reckon.

What do you think?

Post by **3DO Experience** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:53 am

Well the price tag. Followed in close second with having practically no games when it released.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 1:04 am

Same problem as the Saturn -- it got caught on the cusp of the switch from 2D to 3D. Both the 3DO and Saturn do amazing 2D, but their 3D leaves much to be desired. Especially the 3DO.

Anyway, that might not be the biggest mistake, though. I'd lean towards the whole "Multimedia" thing. For some reason, everyone thought things like CD-ROM encyclopedias and video references were the next big thing. Yeah, that was pretty much DOA, and the 3DO got caught up in the hype. It settled down into a games machine, but marketing it as a multimedia device at first probably didn't help anything.

CRV · Post by **CRV** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:04 am

Mobius wrote:Yeah, that was pretty much DOA, and the 3DO got caught up in the hype. It settled down into a games machine, but marketing it as a multimedia device at first probably didn't help anything.

And that whole "this is a multimedia machine, not a game console" thing is at least partly why the FZ-1 was originally so much.

Scarlettkitten · Post by **Scarlettkitten** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:34 pm

definately the wrong time (2D / 3D transition), and being marketed as a multimedia box didn't help.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 2:19 pm

Price no question, followed by a spotty launch lineup. The 3DO did start to move somewhat brisk once the price dipped below $500. Had it debuted w/a Madden or Road Rash ...

mattyg · Post by **mattyg** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:55 pm

1. Software -same situation that the companies are facing now - no decent exclusives tied up - just heaps of ports we'd already seen. Playstation had Ridge Racer and still would have been no.1 with no other title. Same for Saturn the promise of Virtua Fighter and Daytona was just too strong - no must have for the 3DO. I've said it before there's no bad hardware just bad/lazy programmers (or their greedy bosses).Some decent seudo 2D stuff like Gex and Quasar would have been relatively easy to produce straight up - pandering to the 3DO's strength with the 3D stuff coming of age with M2

2. Price Just way too high even at $150 less it had a chance - I know that this was tied to the business model but had panasonic offset this with some decent published ports early on (like Streetfighter ) $549 or even $499 might have been acheiveble.

3. Advertising/support - pratically no-one outside Japan/Us knew what it was

but...... I've always believed the 3DO's biggest problem was also its greatest asset - Trip
The company sunk under Trips knee-jerk reactions to the market in regards to the business model. Just ask anyone at Crystal Dynamics. Too many publishers gave up when it was no longer as lucrative.

Post by **3DOKid** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:22 pm

I don't think the price was that much. It was the same sort of price I paid for my Amiga 1200 and my STe had been about £100 more expensive. So £400 didn't make me wince too much. It was cheaper in the UK than you U.S folk, paid but a year later, I think by that time the 3DO had been made cheaper in the USA too.

I think you console people were a little shocked. SNES and MD had been pretty cheap. The saturn launched at £400 UKP - didn't it? I think the PS1 was about £300.00

Perhaps it suffered from the perception it was expensive.

I'm confident the PSX/Saturn killed it, but I don't believe the price was killer blow.

Lemmi · Post by **Lemmi** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:10 pm

PRICE PRICE PRICE was the starting death march of the 3DO
the multimedia bullshit was fun for about 1 hour, plus you had to buy attachments to play other media like VCDs. if the system played VCDs out of the box then it might have been alittle different

humm $299 or $699? or even $599 (a year later) - then the next number i remember seeing was $399 (still to high)

i think i would get the $299 system no matter what it is, because $700 for any system is just crazy
and a $400 difference in any country is alot of money
even if the 3do had 20 of the all time best games ever made at launch still wouldnt get me to pay $700

when the 3do came out i instead paid $700 for a car that lasted 3 years and $39 for whatever Genesis NHL game was out at the time

Post by **3DOKid** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:02 am

My brother bought a car £50 at auction around the sametime I bought my 3DO. The cars previous owner was the Fire Brigade, in the right light you could still see where the stickers had been. The car lasted around 4 years, and covered 100,000miles. It only died after my brother forgot to add oil. For 4 years. It had grass growing in the passenger side - hell of car mind you.

It looked a lot like this:

http://www.maestro.org.uk/pp_class/data ... -large.jpg

My 3Do lasted longer but you're right, in that respect the 3DO was a rip-off.

The whole multi-media thing was an unbelievable white elephant. the only thing i wanted was the VCD player. (I got one now but...) i remember the disappointment of realising that PhotoCDs were expensive (and pretty pointless) CDs were old hat, Edutainment was slow and very boring, leaving games...

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 2:55 am

Obviously the multimedia element was the right direction, but way too soon. The combination of being an early adopter screwed 3DO in almost every sense (the cost of the CD-ROM drives and other components), the fact that they didn't do enough to court third party support, and the diffusion of focus caused the brand to kind of linger in this weird hybrid state that the public doesn't trust.

Even today, with the PS3 and 360 offering much more complete multimedia box functions, they really don't go out of their way to market the machines to yuppies and non-gaming technofreaks. They ram the content into the player, and when it works they have more income from the same source. Smarter business.

Poor 3DO tried getting the same stacks of cash from a broader base that just wasn't interested.