3DO
The 3DO Company was founded in 1991 under the name SMSG, Inc. by Electronic Arts co-founder Trip Hawkins in a partnership with seven other companies, including AT&T, Time Warner, Matsushita, MCA and Electronic Arts. The company first concentrated on making video game consoles, before turning to developing and publishing games for the PlayStation as well as other game consoles and PCs.
3rd Party Developer
In 1996, 3DO acquired Cyclone Studios, New World Computing and Archetype Interactive, and began to develop and publish games. The company's biggest hit was its series of Army Men games, featuring the generic green plastic soldier toys that had recently been re-popularised by the film Toy Story. Its Might and Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic series from subsidiary New World Computing were also popular and lucrative for the company. During the late 1990s, the company published one of the first 3D MMORPGs: Meridian 59, which survives on to this day at the hands of some of the game's original developers.
However, with the exception of its well-received High Heat Baseball franchise, many of the company's games were critically disparaged, with many consumers avoiding purchasing sequels to the earlier 3DO games that disappointed them.
In 2003, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the company's game brands and other intellectual properties were sold to rivals such as Ubisoft, who bought the assets of Might and Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic, and Namco, who bought the Street Racing Syndicate.
