It's 1991, you are Trip Hawkins, what do you do?

Post by **3DOKid** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 8:15 am

A complete and utter rip-off of the Atari ages thread, but I thought it would be interesting to see what suggestions people might have.

Here are mine.

- I think the hardware licensing was the main mistake. It pushed the price up and caused inter-vendor competition/fighting. So I would have built a prototype and sold it to the highest bidder and abandonded LG, Goldtar, etc., (and kept just Matsushita?)

- With hindsight, I would have waited 18months before finalising the hardware. (Pushing the release date to 1995 and being more competitive with Sony/Sega and the hardware more compariable)

- With the extra 18 months and Panasonic, I would nailed Konami, Namco, Temco, EA and Williams to create exclusives.

- Exclusive console rights to Mortal Kombat and Doom (whatever the cost to Panasonic

)

- Integrated VCD

- More focus on 3D.

grand_barbare · Post by **grand_barbare** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:05 am

-more aggressive marketing and advertising

-continue to make 2D games (vs fighting) not to destabilize the players of the 16 bits génération

desiv · Post by **desiv** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:42 pm

1: For sure, integrated MPEG/VCD. (Even if that was just including the expansion cart). You were aiming at the consumer (not just the gamer), and consumers don't expect to buy a Player, only to realize that they have to buy something else to get it to play some of the things that it was advertised to do.

2: Lower the price. I know it conflicts with the above, but the price was too high at $700. Even early adopters of high tech are hard pressed to pay that much of a premium initially. Look at BluRay/HDDVD. Coming out at about $550 or better, $500 would have been a good target.

3: Cool commercials with a kid showing how cool the system was, including Buzz Aldrin, the Pointer Sisters, Tommy Lasorda, Little Richard and.. er.. wait, that was the Amiga and it didn't work. Scratch that one..

desiv

bonefish · Post by **bonefish** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:00 pm

Have Crystal Dynamics working on a mascot out of the gate. Gex at launch. Remember, it is the early 90's

One company exclusive deal for manufacturing, right on 3doKid.

And to follow the previous, allow programmers direct access to the hardware around the OS.

Do whatever it takes to get the price down. Top loader out of the gate etc.

mattyg · Post by **mattyg** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:40 pm

I never had an issue with the licensing arrangements , however , there should have been an in house studio to start with.
A cheaper top loader available at launch with a pack in game and 2 controllers- but no fmv included
Top of the line models including fmv , a pack in movie and game , mouse and a CDi style remote control.
GLOBAL advertising to put pressure on manufacturers to distribute GLOBALLY!
Packing in a movie would have gotten some of the big movie studios involved and the advertising push from them may have outweighed the cost of putting in an fmv module in the higher end models.
Game/pripheral packs (like Zhadnost) - the steering wheel coming boxed with NFS , the flightstick with scramble cobra etc
thats my 2 cents worth ( 2 bob for my English friends)

NikeX · Post by **NikeX** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:55 pm

1. Force EA to speed up their R&D Department and produce more and more sport titles, Madden, NBA, Fifa - at least 2 titles of each per year, first in the style of ISS on SNES, then later on in 3D. TV ads for this.

2. Make a contract with Midway to release Mortal Combat on 3DO - with intense use of FMV cutscenes and extra CD. - TV Ads for this.

3. Never release any infotainment or toons on 3DO. Never. Not a single kid in the world wants that. TV ads are impossible to make for this.

4.a.) Four controller ports as a must for every console licensee (console price of sale up). Present this as a special feature and a win over SNES and Genesis. Get it into the 3DO EA Sportstitle TV ads.
4.b.) On every console only one logo: 3DO. NEVER use Interactive, or Multiplayer, or REAL. Just the name of the licensee and 3DO. Put this into the licensee contracts.

5. Reduce 3DO to the TV ad maker and licensee exchange h.q. and as a games Q.M. Just that not more! Do not make games by yourself. Do NOT create your own game studio. Invite kids to be a part of your quality management. Make TV ads for this.
If 3DO itself is smaller (no game company), you can be happy with less profit per sold console, so the buying price per console is lower, US$ 400 p.ex. and not 700. And the licensees will be also happier.

6. Scrappage bonus for your 3DO M1, when buying a 3DO M2. Invest a little bit of your US$ 100,000,000 - M2 Deal. (You've got more money backup thanks to your 400 dollar 3DO M1 price poilicy - more sold consoles). Extra contract with Panasonic.

7. Do not allow NERF tournaments at 3DO h.q.

edit: no S-Video, reduce costs.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 2:50 am

3. Never release any infotainment or toons on 3DO. Never. Not a single kid in the world wants that. TV ads are impossible to make for this.

True ... and 3DO had history to look at w/cd-i, cdtv, etc ... Games only should have been the route from the start.

pitsunami · Post by **pitsunami** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 10:09 pm

All we need now is a time machine!!

mattyg · Post by **mattyg** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 11:33 pm

....right!

now where's that de Lorean ?

got the flux capacitors ready guys (and gal)

clock tower...check lightning strike.....check

or if you're in the UK a blue police box , nerdy alien and attractive companion will do it too

Post by **3DOKid** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:47 am

This hopefully discounts that annoying bint Billy Piper.

mattyg · Post by **mattyg** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 1:28 am

Blasphemy! Billie is H O T hot hot!

Seriously! - looks better as a brunette though.