So is it possible that a business model like 3DO could work today? AValved tried a few years ago with the steam machines and to some degree nowadays with SteamOS!
licensed platform, built by different manufacturers, with enough
competition to drive down costs?
On Sat, 16 Aug 2025 19:40:56 +0200, "Werner P." <[email protected]> wrote:
Am 16.08.25 um 17:00 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
So is it possible that a business model like 3DO could work today? AValved tried a few years ago with the steam machines and to some degree
licensed platform, built by different manufacturers, with enough
competition to drive down costs?
nowadays with SteamOS!
The success to get OEMs on board has been limited and were in both cases!
I don't know if a standardized platform would work or not. In truth, I
was inspired to write the initial post by an editorial I read that
briefly touched on the subject. But I think it's more possible NOW
than it was even when the Steam Machines came out.
There's been an increasing conformity in platform architectures, and
--with the usual exception of Nintendo-- it's more often the software publishers pushing the direction of console design than the
manufacturers. They would LOVE a unified system architecture, and
nowadays they have more clout than ever. And with an increasing push
towards software-as-service/cloud streaming, having a standardized
hardware platform is useful too.
But, like you said, it's the OEMs who have to get behind it. That was
one thing the 3DO corporation never really managed to do. While Sony
and Microsoft no longer sell their console hardware at loss, their
gaming division profits come mostly from licensing. Wanna publish a
game on Playstation 5? Sony's getting a cut... and while it's not a
huge cut, it adds up.
But if you standardize consoles for OEMs to manufacture, like VHS,
those manufacturers aren't going to get any of those licensing fees.
The only profit they'll see is on the sale of the device itself. Which
leads to other problems, including customers getting cut-rate, poorly designed hardware or overly expensive devices. Or just a failure to
attach any OEMs to the model at all, which is mostly what happened to
3DO (for the longest time, only Panasonic made 3DO machines at all. It
was only fairly late in the device's lifespan that competitors started
making competing 3DOs).
It's not impossible, of course. In a sense, the PC is the 'modern
3DO'; a standardized platform made by multiple manufactures. But it
would be a hard sell to get Microsoft, Sony and others to back the
idea.
Anyway, it was just a thought experiment, something to consider.
I would thanks to improved tooling none of this really matters that much anymore as it used to when the 3do had its run!I don't agree that PCs are that standardized of a platform. Especially
for games. First you would need a stable standardized operating system, which Windows isn't and almost certainly never will be. And Apple's OS won't be either for the reasons you were complaining about in the
wireless headphones thread.
Second the hardware isn't anywhere close to as standardized as would be required. Different hard drives (size, speed) affect performance and capability. Video cards and their drivers are still one of the biggest sources of problems for users. Sound cards, same with smaller numbers.
And then we get to the software used....
Am 17.08.25 um 18:01 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:
I would thanks to improved tooling none of this really matters that much anymore as it used to when the 3do had its run!I don't agree that PCs are that standardized of a platform.
Especially for games. First you would need a stable standardized
operating system, which Windows isn't and almost certainly never will
be. And Apple's OS won't be either for the reasons you were
complaining about in the wireless headphones thread.
Second the hardware isn't anywhere close to as standardized as would
be required. Different hard drives (size, speed) affect performance
and capability. Video cards and their drivers are still one of the
biggest sources of problems for users. Sound cards, same with smaller
numbers.
And then we get to the software used....
Noadays most games use an existing engine which can scale decently from
low level requirements to high level ones!
Hence even porting to other platforms is not the headache as it used to be!
But would that model work today? Maybe. In 1994, there were distinct differences between the different platforms; they all used different[snip]
hardware architectures and focused on different types of game. For
example, the NeoGeo was a sprites-powerhouse, but had virtually no
support for anything 3D. This meant games for the various platforms
differed wildly. The PC, with its copious memory and storage, tended
towards much more open games that gave players many more options than,
say, on Genesis. The 3DO, built around the hot new CD-ROM technology, featured a lot of streaming-video rail games.
These days, though, the architectures of the Playstation, XBox and PC
are increasingly similar. Exclusives to one platform or the other have
On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 23:50:08 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <[email protected]> wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote at 15:00 this Saturday (GMT):
[snip]
But would that model work today? Maybe. In 1994, there were distinct[snip]
differences between the different platforms; they all used different
hardware architectures and focused on different types of game. For
example, the NeoGeo was a sprites-powerhouse, but had virtually no
support for anything 3D. This meant games for the various platforms
differed wildly. The PC, with its copious memory and storage, tended
towards much more open games that gave players many more options than,
say, on Genesis. The 3DO, built around the hot new CD-ROM technology,
featured a lot of streaming-video rail games.
These days, though, the architectures of the Playstation, XBox and PC
are increasingly similar. Exclusives to one platform or the other have
The Xbox actually uses a modified Windows install, and MS has been
experimenting with running Xbox apps natively and having a shared
library between the two, so it absolutely is possible, except for the
differences in processing power.
MS and ASUS are also working on a new handheld gaming PC which will
use a stripped down version of Windows 11 (and a consolified
interface). It won't be the XBox version though; it will run regular
PC games natively.
AMD's Zen series is increasingly looking to be the basis of future
consoles too; its currently being used in the PS5 and XBox; it's the
core of the SteamDeck, and -of course- its used in many PCs too
(although Intel remains predominant in the latter). There is more and
more convergence in hardware design between the various platforms; a
far cry from ten or twenty years ago when every system had its own
unique architecture and different CPUs/GPUs. Personally I don't think
a "new 3DO" would take succeed... but it sure as heck would have a
better chance now than it did back in 1990.
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