3do Is Dead

May 28, 2003 - According to inside sources, every last employee at 3DO (the company responsible for the ill-fated console of the same name as well as the entire Army Men franchise) was let go earlier today and the company as a whole has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This comes as a shock, to be sure, but industry pundits have been witnessing a slow decline of the company for years, so while somewhat surprising in the way the closure came about, the end of Trip Hawkins' baby is not entirely unexpected.
Exact details of the mass termination are largely unknown, but from what we've learned today, no severance packages or extended pay was offered. As for 3DO made titles, many have been finding homes under the loving arms of other publishers, while the rest are still on the auctioning block or in the process of being sold, we were told.

As it is late in the day, official comment is hard to come by. As soon as it is made available, you'll have it.

Best of luck to all of those who find themselves without gainful employment.

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/421/421216p1.html

JOY! THERE IS HOPE IN THE WORLD!
Thats means there will be 10 less shit ass games released this year.








too bad about the people the lost their jobs though... maybe if they tried harder on the games they made. :D

I thought they were doing okay with their Baseball game.... guess not.

Good riddance:lol:

High Heat was a good game. Four Horsemen looks good. Heroes of Might & Magic was good. It wasn't all horrible, just most of it.

I feel sorry for the people who will lose their jobs. Let's hope that the new companies who get their games will improve them.

I fucking hope so.

I'll miss High Heat, and I hope that the employees bounce back.

Army Men...gone forever!? Too good to be true!!!

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Originally posted by Videodrone
Army Men...gone forever!? Too good to be true!!!

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dont worry, some company will pick up the rights.

*pumps fist*

This is the best videogame-related news of the year. :D

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Originally posted by EvilMog007
dont worry, some company will pick up the rights.

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*coughacclaimcough*

diffusionx using a smiley, that's got to be a first.

The 3DO Company Files Chapter 11
Wednesday May 28, 8:32 pm ET


REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The 3DO Company, a Delaware corporation (Nasdaq: THDO - News), and The 3DO Company, a California corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, today announced that they have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

"This filing gives us more time to complete transactions in the interest of our stakeholders," said Trip Hawkins, Chairman and CEO. "While we hope that this news will generate additional new opportunities, at this point we are focused on pursuing either the sale of the entire company or the sale of its assets."

The Company will continue to manage their properties and operate their businesses in the ordinary course of business as "debtors-in-possession" subject to the supervision and orders of the Bankruptcy Court pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030528/sfw083_1.html

Amazing, 3DO finally had a somewhat decent looking game coming out and now they die :lol:

I guess I saw the last of 3DO at this years E3.

In 1993, things looked A LOT different for 3DO. That said, over the last few years (with a few exceptions such as High Heat Baseball), their games (Johnny Mosely Mad Trix, Portal Runner, etc...) were classic examples of how NOT to do business in the land of competitive video games. Horrible games, horrible marketing, and probably tested by simians, this company turned out to be one of the big losers of all time.

3DO could've been a far different animal had they learned from those that might have supported them (ie... you and me) instead of ignoring their target audience by listening to talking heads in corporate meetings that dreamed something far different from what reality turned out to be.

It saddens me that they never really could be what they might have been. The last few years have been painful for the company and their employees. Best of luck to them.

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Originally posted by diffusionx
This is the best videogame-related news of the year. :D

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no way. that award still goes to...
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...threadid=18951

*shrugs in unison with wording* : dah-well...

Well, I just hope that 4 Horsmen of Appocalypse will still get released. The only 3DO game I ever wanted :( :( :(

Yeah, 4 Horsmen of Appocalypse actually looked pretty good, and their old games (Killing Time, Blade Force) were decent.

Otherwise, eat shit, Trip Hawkins, and good riddance, 3DO! :lol: I hope this guy tries to clean my windshield the next time I drive into the city so I can get out of my car and kick his ass for infecting the world with his shit-ass Army Men games.

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Originally posted by Despair
Well, I just hope that 4 Horsmen of Appocalypse will still get released. The only 3DO game I ever wanted :( :( :(

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I got to play it and it wasn't all that bad, I thought it could've been pretty good for 3DO but now they are out of business... I hope someone does pick this title up though.

Next in queue: Acclaim.

Since they've filed Chapter 11, they still have time to sell the company or something. Chances are, one of those borg like companies (EA, Ubi-Soft, Infogrames) will eat them up if it comes to that. I at least hope Street Racing Syndicate and 4 Horsemen get released.

I just hope this means there's a chance of a Might & Magic game coming out that won't suck.

Maybe New World Computing will get the rights back *laughs* eh what am I thinking....

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Originally posted by RoleTroll
This comes as a shock, to be sure

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Only if you're a fucking moron that is. :rolleyes: The whole 3DO company's history was just one big marketing mistake after all. Rather than admitting their incompetence and doing something about it, they would merely lay the blame on something else. "Oh it wasn't our fault our console fault, it's those 64-bits machine. Nevermind that our hardware was overpriced, our software sucked and the PlayStation was far more successful than we would ever expected. It's the N64's fault". They did more or less the same thing when their Cubix game failed too. For a hilarious look at the company's history, take a look at this article from Toastyfrog.

http://www.toastyfrog.com/2d/feature...anies_01.shtml

Edited because 3DO is not spelled with a 0. Honestly, I shouldn't be giving a damn, because 3DO sucks anyway. And I don't like haohmaru. :p

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Originally posted by Dolemite


Otherwise, eat shit, Trip Hawkins, and good riddance, 3DO! :lol: I hope this guy tries to clean my windshield the next time I drive into the city so I can get out of my car and kick his ass for infecting the world with his shit-ass Army Men games.

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He's probably still, one rich S.O.B. What really happened to all the cash, 3DO recieved from Matsushita for the Bulldog technology? I'm sure Trip gave himself a nice big bonus, for that deal.

Trip had finally learned that you need to lengthen the development cycle and produce quality, not quantity, to compete in today's VG world. Unfortunately, by the time he learned it, it was too late. For example, he got all the cost of producing 4 Horsemen and never got the chance to release it.

They had a chance to do a large private placement at $40+ per share (adjusted for reverse split) in summer 2001. Instead, Trip said he wanted to "minimize dilution" and wait for higher prices(!) I bet that degenerate gambler wishes he could take back those words.... They ended up doing financing under horrible terms, including a vulture capital firm by the name of Promethean. (Promethean buys convertible notes from companies, then shorts the common stock against the convertible debt, taking the price down to nothing.) Today the stock sells for about $1.30. Tomorrow, if it trades at all, I bet it sells for single digit pennies. The stock is now worthless.

The idea to develop crap with an internally-owned IP license (Army Men) was Trip's idea. The idea to have 4-6 month long development cycles, rather than 18 mo - 2 years, was the idea of one Hicks. May they enjoy their retirement together.

Quote:

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originally in Robert Jung's Jaguar FAQ> But all hope is not lost! According to Scott LeGrand of 4Play, former
> Atari engineer Dave Staugas has mentioned that the Jaguar's startup
> encryption check has a "back door" in the software -- a safety measure to
> be used in case the "real" encryption key was lost. Investigation in this
> direction is currently continuing, and the latest (unconfirmed) theory is
> that the encryption (and the back door) works as follows:
*snip*
>
> 4. The "back door" checksum value is: 03D0 DEAD (hex). And yes, it IS a
> cheeky reference to the Jaguar's then-current competitor...

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How ironic. :eek: Hopefully with these people getting out from under Trip and his Army Men, they'll find better jobs.

Good riddance to Army Men.

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Originally posted by Johnny Undaunted
Only if you're a fucking moron that is. :rolleyes: The whole 3D0 company's history was just one big marketing mistake after all. Rather than admitting their incompetence and doing something about it, they would merely lay the blame on something else. "Oh it wasn't our fault our console fault, it's those 64-bits machine. Nevermind that our hardware was overpriced, our software sucked and the PlayStation was far more successful than we would ever expected. It's the N64's fault". They did more or less the same thing when their Cubix game failed too. For a hilarious look at the company's history, take a look at this article from Toastyfrog.

http://www.toastyfrog.com/2d/feature...anies_01.shtml

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Speaking of morons, what does that 3D"ZERO" company do anyway? ;)

Maybe Acclaim can buy Army Men from 3DO? Imagine Turok with the Army Men engine... or Army Men with the Turok Evolution engine... or even "Turok vs. Army Men"!

Dude, Acclaim can't afford to buy toilet paper for their employees, much less new loser game acquisitions. =P

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Originally posted by haohmaru
Dude, Acclaim can't afford to buy toilet paper for their employees, much less new loser game acquisitions. =P

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I thought they used the manuals from the thousands of unsold copies of BMX XXX for that.

3DO + dead = yay!

Hmmm. I remember when the 3DO was advertising on Channel 1 back in the 8th grade ^_^

Well, goodbye to them...again.

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving company. Buh-bye 3D0. I'm glad you're dead.

what?! no more army men games?? :(


BWAHAHAHAHAYESSSSSSSSS!!!

IF only 3DO was French they would own half the industry by now.

But... what happens to High Heat?

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Originally posted by haohmaru
Speaking of morons, what does that 3D"ZERO" company do anyway? ;)

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<droopy voice>I don't like you.</droopy> :o

Well, when you build your company around a franchise like Army Men, you deserve a slow, painful death.

Thanks to 3DO to producing the hardware of the same name and the best version of Star Control 2 that appeared on it, but otherwise good riddance to bad rubbish.

Here's to the programmers getting homes with new companies that actually have direction and good ideas. *raises beer*

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but what I played of Street Racing Syndicate and Four Horsemen didn't exactly set me on fire. Though Four Horsemen just left me kind of "blah", I actually disliked Street Racing Syndicate. That game just aggravated me somehow, from car handling to course design to character art. This isn't a game that I'll be mourning the death of.

Oddly, the only 3DO game I'd like to see revived is Star Fighter. The PSX/Saturn/PC versions were pure crap, but the 3DO version, with no fog (and more slowdown than any game, ever) was amazingly fun. I would have loved to have seen a sequel to that one, although I know the odds were basically zero.

James

I'm hoping Cyclone Studios(Uprising, Requiem) survives since they're one of the few good teams 3DO has.

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Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
I'm hoping Cyclone Studios(Uprising, Requiem) survives since they're one of the few good teams 3DO has.

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Have they made anything of note since Requiem? I'm sure anyone with talent either has already left or will be able to find new work for a better game company.

Uprising was one of only a handful of great games to come out of 3DO.

A pox be on that company!

I'm more unhappy about New World Computing, but they were fairly well gutted already, so I suppose it doesn't matter much. Ultima toasted by EA, Wizardry gone, and now Might & Magic. All three ancient computer rpg series gone. Granted, after U8/9, and MM9, some people would say its well deserved :P Wiz8 was very nice though.

As for 3do? *points and laughs*

I wonder if Trip Hawkins will stay in the videogame industry. After the long line of horrible decisions he has made in the last 10+ years, he may be nigh unhireable. Who would be so reckless to even want him working for them?

If Trip stays in the industry, it will be with his own company...

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Originally posted by Zerodash
I wonder if Trip Hawkins will stay in the videogame industry. After the long line of horrible decisions he has made in the last 10+ years, he may be nigh unhireable. Who would be so reckless to even want him working for them?

If Trip stays in the industry, it will be with his own company...

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Steve Jobs was regarded in the same manner, when he was ousted from the very company he created (Apple). Now look at Pixar Entertainment. They've made so much money for Disney, that Disney has now opted to give up on hand drawn movies, in favor of 3-D animated movies created by Pixar.