Various (Panasonic, Sanyo, Goldstar) · 1993–1996 · ~2,000,000
An open-licence hardware platform launched at $699.99 — twice the price of its competitors — that never attracted the software library needed to justify the cost.
Trip Hawkins left EA to found The 3DO Company, licensing the hardware design to multiple manufacturers. The concept was sound — one format, multiple makers — but the $699.99 launch price in 1993 was catastrophically high. By the time prices dropped, the PlayStation and Saturn had arrived. The 3DO had some notable showcases (Road Rash, The Need for Speed) but most titles were multiplatform and better served elsewhere. The format sold around two million units total across all licensees.