3DO (3 Dimensional Optics) is a video gaming hardware format developed by The 3DO Company and conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins.

[9][10][11] The specifications were originally designed by Dave Needle and RJ Mical of New Technology Group, and were licensed by third parties; most hardware were packaged as home video game consoles under the name Interactive Multiplayer, and Panasonic produced the first models in 1993 with further renditions released afterwards by manufacturers GoldStar, Sanyo, Creative Labs, and Samsung Electronics.

Centered around a 32-bit ARM60 RISC-type processor and a custom graphics chip, the format was initially marketed as a multimedia one but this had changed into a solely video gaming within a year of launching.

It was also believed that companies would be able to more effectively compete by being able to leverage a common standard, as opposed to having to attract developers to individual formats, with Hawkins noting that this would be "tough for Atari and Sony".

Both 3DO and Philips, seeking to pioneer the broader concept of interactive entertainment, aimed to sell in the order of one million units during 1994 and into 1995.

[23] The launch of the platform in October 1993 received a great deal of attention in the press as part of the "multimedia wave" in the computer world at the time.

Return Fire, Road Rash, FIFA International Soccer, and Jurassic Park Interactive had been slated for launch releases but were pushed to mid-1994 due to the developers' struggles with the then-cutting-edge hardware.

[13][26] Panasonic also failed to manufacture an ample supply of the console in time for launch day, and as a result most retail stores only received one or two units.

[28] Computer Gaming World reported in January 1994 that 3DO "is poised for an avalanche of software support to appear in the next 12 months", unlike the Atari Jaguar and Pioneer LaserActive.

[29] Electronic Arts promoted the console in two-page advertisements, describing it as a "technological leap" and promising "twenty new titles ... over the next twelve months".

[30] The 3DO's claim to the title of most advanced console on the market was lost with the 1994 Japanese launches of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn.

The 3DO Company responded by emphasizing their console's large existing software library, lower price (both the Panasonic and Goldstar models were $299 by this time), and promised successor: the M2.

This lack of a profitable business model, combined with Panasonic acquiring exclusive rights to the M2 technology, were cited as the two chief reasons for Goldstar dropping support for the 3DO in early 1996.

[34] The 3DO system was eventually discontinued towards the end of 1996, with a complete shutdown of all internal hardware development and divestment of the M2 technology to Panasonic.

[35] After The 3DO Company sold its "Opera" hardware to Samsung in 1997,[12] the 3DO platform had achieved more attention in South Korea, where LG had opened a '3DO Plaza' in Seoul on its 1994 launch and many games had been localized.

[citation needed] The initial high price is considered to be one of the many issues that led to the 3DO's failure, along with lack of significant funding that larger companies such as Sony took advantage of.

[5] In an interview shortly after The 3DO Company dropped support for the system, Trip Hawkins attributed its failure to the model of licensing all hardware manufacturing and software to third parties.

Games that have compatibility issues include Sword and Sorcery (which was released in English under the title Lucienne's Quest), Twinkle Knights and a demo version of Alone in the Dark.

[50] Some of the best-received titles were ports of arcade or PC games that other systems of the time were not capable of playing, such as Alone in the Dark, Myst and Star Control II.

Other popular titles included Total Eclipse, Jurassic Park Interactive, Gex, Crash 'N Burn, Slayer, Killing Time, The Need for Speed, Road Rash, and Immercenary.

Since its release coincided with the arrival of the modern first-person shooter, the 3DO also had some of the earliest members of the genre as exclusives, such as Escape from Monster Manor, the previously mentioned Killing Time, and PO'ed, as well as ports of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.

Such titles rendered all or nearly all of their graphics in full motion video, which necessitated that any interactive influence from the player be limited to a greater extent than other games of the time.

Night Trap, D, Mad Dog McCree, and The Daedalus Encounter are among the more famous examples of full motion video driven games.

However, they debated whether it could remain a serious contender in the long run, in light of the successor M2's imminent release and the Saturn and PlayStation's superior hardware.

The M2 project, which began as an accelerator add-on for the 3DO,[57] was to use dual PowerPC 602 processors in addition to newer 3D and video rendering technologies.