3DO Console
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Panasonic FZ-1 R.E.A.L. 3DO Interactive Multiplayer
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| Developer | The 3DO Company |
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| Manufacturer | Panasonic, Sanyo, GoldStar |
| Type | Home video game console |
| Generation | Fifth generation era |
| Release date | |
| Retail availability | 1993–1996 |
| Introductory price | US$699.99 JP¥79,800 |
| Discontinued | Late 1996 |
| Units sold | 2 million |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| CPU | 32-bit RISC CPU ARM60 based on ARM architecture @ 12.5 MHz |
| Memory | 2 MB RAM, 1 MB VRAM |
| Storage | 32 KB SRAM |
| Online services | Planned but canceled |
| Best-selling game | Gex, over 1 million |
| Successor | Panasonic M2 (canceled) |
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, often called simply the 3DO, is a home video game console platform developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the company itself, but a series of specifications, originally designed by Dave Needle and R. J. Mical of New Technologies Group, that could be licensed by third parties. Panasonic produced the first models in 1993, and further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by GoldStar (now LG Corp) and in 1995 by Sanyo.
Despite a highly promoted launch (including being named Time magazine's "1993 Product of the Year") and a host of cutting-edge technologies, the 3DO's high price and an oversaturated console market prevented the system from achieving success comparable to veteran competitors Sega and Nintendo. As a result, it was discontinued in late 1996, three years after its initial release.
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer was originally conceived by The 3DO Company, founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins. The company's objective was to create a next-generation, CD-based video game/entertainment standard 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 US$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 3DO hardware itself was designed by Dave Needle and R.J. Mical (designers of the Commodore Amiga and the Atari Lynx), starting from an outline on a restaurant napkin in 1989. Trip Hawkins was a long-time acquaintance of Needle and Mical and found that their design very closely fit his philosophy for architecture and approach, so he decided that "Rather than me start a brand new team and starting from scratch it just made a lot of sense to ... join forces with them and shape what they were doing into what I wanted it to be."
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