The Genesis of the 3DO

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You're listening to Memories of 3DO, a retrospective look at

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a video games console classic.

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To make sure you get the latest episode, hop on over to 3dopodcast.com/listen and

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choose your preferred app to follow on.

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And now this week's episode.

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In the early 1990s console gaming was at its 16-bit peak.

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Both Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo owned the marketplace

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while other systems like the NEO-GEO offered alternatives for the hardcore

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gamer, but the industry was changing.

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While these consoles were hugely successful,

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they still ran on cartridges, and this limited what the consoles could do.

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CD-ROM was also making inroads with systems like the CD-i from

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Phillips and Sony showing what could be done with the disc format.

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I'll never forget playing the Palm Spings Open golf game and

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thinking, wow, this is the future.

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Even though I was holding like a weird TV remote that had a little stick on the

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middle of it, made it really hard to play,

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it looked amazing, and this was what CD-ROM promised.

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Despite being co-developed with Sony though, the CD-i never really took off.

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Hampered by a slow processor and an expensive price tag.

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With the next generation of consoles from Sega and Nintendo still a way off,

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there was a gap for a new machine to go up against the Super Nintendo and Genesis

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and lead the charge for the CD revolution.

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Enter the 3DO.

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Looking at the people behind the 3DO and the plans for it, gamers and game

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developers alike were genuinely excited.

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Designed by video game legends, Dave Needle and RJ Mical who developed

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the Commodore Amiga and Atari Lynx, and with Electronic Arts founder and

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visionary Trap Hawkins leading the way,

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it was clear that the 3DO had some serious gaming brains behind the concept.

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Not only that, but the business model with the 3DO was different too.

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The hardware could be licensed by anyone, allowing for multiple

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versions to be built and sold.

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The system wasn't regional locked, meaning Japanese games could be played

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on American and European systems.

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This was a huge bonus for hardcore gamers who were used to SEGA and Nintendo keeping

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their systems to their regions, Japanese games and Japanese systems, American

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games, American systems, and so on.

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And the royalties that game developers had to pay 3DO were far lower than

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those that SEGA and Nintendo demanded.

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Because of that, some of the biggest developers in the world signed up

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to produce games for the system, with Electronic Arts in particular

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ready to show sports fans what their favorite games look like on

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the next generation 32-bit system.

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So everything was set for the 3DO to enter the mix and make the

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16-bit consoles look like kids toys.

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But could this new upstart really challenge the established

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might of SEGA and Nintendo?

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Things were about to get interesting....

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In the next episode, the challenge of bringing a new console to market reveals

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a stark truth and a pricing dilemma that could make or break the console's success.