3DO announces results
Californian publisher becomes latest gaming company to post disappointing results and shed staff
3DO announced its latest financial results earlier this week, with the California-based publisher seeing revenues of $30m for the three months to December, a slump of 27% compared to the same period the previous year. The announcement comes amidst rumours that 3DO have laid off upwards of 20% of their staff this week. The shortfall in revenue was put down to "a reduction in Nintendo 64 and PC sales, which was partially offset by PlayStation and Game Boy Color sales" and "a general slowdown of software sales in the interactive entertainment industry", although computer game sales have actually risen in Europe over the last year, and figures released last week showed that sales in the US were only down by $80m compared to the previous year, to a little over $6bn.
In fact it seems rather more likely that the company's failing fortunes are at least in part a result of their over-reliance on fading brands. The latest flurry of "Heroes of Might & Magic" games were disappointing, and the Army Men series has been consistently mediocre while taking up a larger and larger proportion of 3DO's release schedule. Amusingly the "risk factors" section of their announcement includes the telling comment that "our ability to develop a hit title depends on numerous factors beyond our control, including critical reviews". Other highlights of the statement include "our success is largely dependent on the personal efforts of certain personnel, especially Trip Hawkins", and "California's current energy crisis could disrupt our operations".