3DO software sales found. Platinum and Gold best sellers! (As of end of 1995)

[Leeroy ST]

After years of giving up hope about an old business wire article vanishing off the net and broken links, I never thought I would find it again but I did! 8 years later. A user on Gaf posted the Gold/Platinum thing but he had no link and some of his games and numbers were wrong. But now I finally found the 3DO business wire sales article, likely was the only copy on the net. This time I will save and store, yes yes.

 

Anyway here are 3DO sales figures as of Nov 1995.

Platinum titles more than 250,000 sold:

 

*Gex - Crystal Dynamics

*Fifa International Soccer - EA

 

Gold titles more than 100,000 sold:

 

*Crash ‘N Burn – Crystal Dynamics

*Road Rash – Electronic Arts

*The Need for Speed – Electronic Arts

*Shock Wave: Invasion Earth 2019 – EA

*Super Street Fighter II Turbo -Panasonic/Capcom

*Total Eclipse – Crystal Dynamics

*True Golf Classics: Pebble Beach Golf Links – Panasonic 

 

9 best sellers.

 

There's a pay archive site that said this:

Quote

Of the 200-plus titles in the existing 3DO arsenal, a handful have achieved major success. Crystal Dynamics' GEX leads the lot with more than 250,000 units sold to date. The next bestselling title, FIFA Soccer, has sold just over 200,000 units and Super Street Fighter II is approaching the 200,000 mark.
 

This was a month before in Oct, it lines up as Fifa passed 250k a month later. The above platinum sales were Nov 95.

 

This also shows by years end Super Street Fighter 2 is likely to be the 3rd Platinum title. Since it was already near 200,000 the two holiday months should put it over 250,000> easily, and you still have a year left.

 

Of course these dont include 1996, these are end if 1995 so no games like Blade Force or full LTDs.

 

 

Some takeaways here:

-Gex outsold every popular 3DO game before or after it's release in 6 months the same year it was launched 

-Gex along with SSFIIT showed 2D was still a big seller if the games were right. *Cough* Jaguar and Sony *Cough*

-Fifa used to be somewhat bigger in the US back then than after the late 90's.

-it took the Saturn two years to have top software beat these sales cumulatively in the US despite selling consoles faster and in higher numbers ltd (but less than 2:1 3DOs ltd)

-Gex was so hot 3DO rushed to bundle it afterward because people were hype for it. Why? Uh........ Yes.

-The software sales of older titles like Crash N Burn and Need for Speed indicate that 3DO was selling more the second half of its life than the first. Showing a lower price may have doubled or tried both games sales earlier.

-Road Rash fever was legit.

 

I'd expect some of these to double in 96 or more (Gex hit a million) there was another version of this in 96 but I gave up on finding that very long ago. I dont think those were backed up so a person with the physical press release would have to scan and dump it online.

 

Still we have these 1993 to end of 1995 ltd's so we at least have some perspective now on how 3DO software did in marketplace.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mikebloke]

Nice find! This is the sort of data I find really interesting, well done being able to source it! 

 

I don't think there is any big surprises in the top 9, and glad they were able to make the 6 digit mark. While final figure sales would be great, I imagine these are probably as close as we might expect to find. 

[Leeroy ST]

44 minutes ago, Mikebloke said:

Nice find! This is the sort of data I find really interesting, well done being able to source it! 

 

I don't think there is any big surprises in the top 9, and glad they were able to make the 6 digit mark. While final figure sales would be great, I imagine these are probably as close as we might expect to find. 

Maybe some one has the scan of 96 "farewell" awards" article before 3DO dropped M2 and sold hardware to Samsung. iirc there were like 30 or so games and a few over 500k.

 

Until then it was hard enough finding this. I can't even find the mid 96 stuff. But at least we have a picture now 

 

 

[Blazing Lazers]

Neat find! I recall various stores having a fair amount of unsold inventory back in the years after 3DO was discontinued, and wondered about just how well some titles sold. I'd really be keen to see sales figures for the really rare titles, like Dino Park, Mathemagics, the Woody Woodpecker volumes, and the adult titles. 

[ubersaurus]

Where was the snippet from the pay site printed from? Newspaper?

[Leeroy ST]

2 minutes ago, ubersaurus said:

Where was the snippet from the pay site printed from? Newspaper?

Newspaper.

 

Got it from News library before they removed the scans and free trials. This one was all text though.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Leeroy ST

[ubersaurus]

Do you remember which paper? I’ve got some subscriptions to a couple services. Might be able to find it again.

[Leeroy ST]

3 minutes ago, ubersaurus said:

Do you remember which paper? I’ve got some subscriptions to a couple services. Might be able to find it again.

It was either HFN (Home furnishing network) or LA times.

 

 

[Lostdragon]

On 9/2/2021 at 10:58 PM, Leeroy ST said:

After years of giving up hope about an old business wire article vanishing off the net and broken links, I never thought I would find it again but I did! 8 years later. A user on Gaf posted the Gold/Platinum thing but he had no link and some of his games and numbers were wrong. But now I finally found the 3DO business wire sales article, likely was the only copy on the net. This time I will save and store, yes yes.

 

Anyway here are 3DO sales figures as of Nov 1995.

Platinum titles more than 250,000 sold:

 

*Gex - Crystal Dynamics

*Fifa International Soccer - EA

 

Gold titles more than 100,000 sold:

 

*Crash ‘N Burn – Crystal Dynamics

*Road Rash – Electronic Arts

*The Need for Speed – Electronic Arts

*Shock Wave: Invasion Earth 2019 – EA

*Super Street Fighter II Turbo -Panasonic/Capcom

*Total Eclipse – Crystal Dynamics

*True Golf Classics: Pebble Beach Golf Links – Panasonic 

 

9 best sellers.

 

There's a pay archive site that said this:

This was a month before in Oct, it lines up as Fifa passed 250k a month later. The above platinum sales were Nov 95.

 

This also shows by years end Super Street Fighter 2 is likely to be the 3rd Platinum title. Since it was already near 200,000 the two holiday months should put it over 250,000> easily, and you still have a year left.

 

Of course these dont include 1996, these are end if 1995 so no games like Blade Force or full LTDs.

 

 

Some takeaways here:

-Gex outsold every popular 3DO game before or after it's release in 6 months the same year it was launched 

-Gex along with SSFIIT showed 2D was still a big seller if the games were right. *Cough* Jaguar and Sony *Cough*

-Fifa used to be somewhat bigger in the US back then than after the late 90's.

-it took the Saturn two years to have top software beat these sales cumulatively in the US despite selling consoles faster and in higher numbers ltd (but less than 2:1 3DOs ltd)

-Gex was so hot 3DO rushed to bundle it afterward because people were hype for it. Why? Uh........ Yes.

-The software sales of older titles like Crash N Burn and Need for Speed indicate that 3DO was selling more the second half of its life than the first. Showing a lower price may have doubled or tried both games sales earlier.

-Road Rash fever was legit.

 

I'd expect some of these to double in 96 or more (Gex hit a million) there was another version of this in 96 but I gave up on finding that very long ago. I dont think those were backed up so a person with the physical press release would have to scan and dump it online.

 

Still we have these 1993 to end of 1995 ltd's so we at least have some perspective now on how 3DO software did in marketplace.

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice find and thanks for sharing on here. 

 

Sadly so many links now dead or leading to dodgy sites, scans being pulled from online or hidden behind pay walls. 

 

 

Never understood the appeal of Gex myself, but must have had some, was ported to other platforms, got the 3D make over.. 

 

 

Sad now E. A don't know what to do with Road Rash ?

[Leeroy ST]

36 minutes ago, Lostdragon said:

Very nice find and thanks for sharing on here. 

 

Sadly so many links now dead or leading to dodgy sites, scans being pulled from online or hidden behind pay walls. 

 

 

Never understood the appeal of Gex myself, but must have had some, was ported to other platforms, got the 3D make over.. 

 

Eventually sold 1 million on 3DO, was bundled after it's success. It blew everything out the water despite not being a 3D game and being 30fps.

 

I made a thread about how odd it was that it was so popular. It's good game, nothing wrong with it, but even on PS1 it sold really well. All three games released in just 5 years selling over ~15 million units. That puts it only under Sonic and Crash for big new 90's platforming ip.

 

But yeah it's hard to find this stuff. Some paywall sites are text only now. Many won't even change the URL when you search so you can't send a link to someone for them to sub and check them out, they have to use the search bar too.

 

Google news papers used to be a good place to search for info but google changed how the search backend worked so now you can type in the same phrases as before and you will get little to zero results.

 

Then you have NYT and others that have their own archive money subscriptions.

 

Makes it very hard to find historical information.

 

44 minutes ago, Lostdragon said:

Sad now E. A don't know what to do with Road Rash 

Road Rash, Ultima, and Wing Commander are three games people consistently want more of over the years but EA won't touch them.

 

With modern graphics Road Rash could work great. 60fps knocking things off bikes.

[DavidD]

6 hours ago, Leeroy ST said:

Eventually sold 1 million on 3DO, was bundled after it's success. It blew everything out the water despite not being a 3D game and being 30fps.

 

I made a thread about how odd it was that it was so popular. It's good game, nothing wrong with it, but even on PS1 it sold really well. All three games released in just 5 years selling over ~15 million units. That puts it only under Sonic and Crash for big new 90's platforming ip.

 

But yeah it's hard to find this stuff. Some paywall sites are text only now. Many won't even change the URL when you search so you can't send a link to someone for them to sub and check them out, they have to use the search bar too.

 

Yeah -- I had to dig through the microfilm/fiche archives at a local university when trying to get info on the New York NES launch. 

[Leeroy ST]

1 hour ago, DavidD said:

Yeah -- I had to dig through the microfilm/fiche archives at a local university when trying to get info on the New York NES launch. 

Oh the test launch.

 

The news sites, wow let me tell you.

 

You can get a costly news site sub that gives you...50-60 articles for $80 mo, then you have to pay extra $40 in bundles of 10 articles each time you go beyond your sub limit.

 

Worse is you only get a summary of an article until you click "read" then that counts as one of your 50. But you have to do that with every article to see what's in it. The search bar is poor. So you will go over that 50 articles easily. Unless you get $300 business plan for 400 articles.

 

Worse, sometimes the summaries are nearly the whole article or snippet outside 1 to 3 words. But you won't know that until you press read. So you waste your article for a couple words missing because you though there would be more article 

 

It's basically a giant money sucking scam.

 

Here's one of the cheap ones, news bank:

 

Quote

Membership Pricing

Memberships are affordable and convenient:   Single article: 1 article: $2.95   Subscription options: $19.95 a month (25 articles per month)   Note: To enjoy uninterrupted service, your credit card will be billed every 30 days until you cancel your account.   $199.95 a year (500 articles per year).   Note: To enjoy uninterrupted service, your credit card will be billed annually until you cancel your account.

 

But you have to click "read" to know what's in the article. Yes this site does that too. You have to lose an article to see if it has what you're looking for.

 

So you'll be done with that "25 articles a month" within 30 minutes till an hour. If you get the 500 article plan that'll be over in a few days, because they make you lose an article to read it. But you have to read it to know what's in it.

 

I dont know if @Lostdragon has dealt with these when finding UK stuff, but these sites are all over the US. The one quoted Is the cheap one.

 

Some actual papers partner with these. Philli inquirer is one. Used to just go look at their archives, they removed them from the site, now they send you to news bank.

 

 

 

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

12 hours ago, Leeroy ST said:

Eventually sold 1 million on 3DO, was bundled after it's success. It blew everything out the water despite not being a 3D game and being 30fps.

 

I made a thread about how odd it was that it was so popular. It's good game, nothing wrong with it, but even on PS1 it sold really well. All three games released in just 5 years selling over ~15 million units. That puts it only under Sonic and Crash for big new 90's platforming ip.

 

But yeah it's hard to find this stuff. Some paywall sites are text only now. Many won't even change the URL when you search so you can't send a link to someone for them to sub and check them out, they have to use the search bar too.

 

Google news papers used to be a good place to search for info but google changed how the search backend worked so now you can type in the same phrases as before and you will get little to zero results.

 

Then you have NYT and others that have their own archive money subscriptions.

 

Makes it very hard to find historical information.

 

Road Rash, Ultima, and Wing Commander are three games people consistently want more of over the years but EA won't touch them.

 

With modern graphics Road Rash could work great. 60fps knocking things off bikes.

Downhill Domination on PS2 is similar to Road Rash (you could get weapons) but it was a downhill race on mountain bikes. Was quite fun. 

[Leeroy ST]

On 9/6/2021 at 12:33 AM, DragonGrafx-16 said:

Downhill Domination on PS2 is similar to Road Rash (you could get weapons) but it was a downhill race on mountain bikes. Was quite fun. 

Unfortunately EA has not been interested not only in new entries for Road Rash, but they don't really push digital versions of the old ones. Once in awhile they may be involved in some Genesis compilation but that's it. Not sure when they did that last.

[Austin]

An important detail missing in the original post here is that the article mentions nothing of units sold, but only of units manufactured. This is a PR tactic failing companies use to make themselves look better, when the reality is that they aren't doing so well. You saw the same sort of "Yeah we're better than ever" fluff with Atari and the Jaguar, and I recall Nokia pulling a similar stunt with the N-Gage when it was dead-on-arrival at launch (something ridiculous like, 'We've manufactured 1 million units', when most of them were probably sitting in warehouses unsold). The point is, touting manufactured numbers is meaningless if you're not actually moving individual product in a meaningful way. For example, a person buys game console, then actually goes out and buys more games at a retail store. In the 3DO's case, it's actually quite telling the state of things at the time when at least six of the "most manufactured" titles were pack-ins (Crash 'n Burn in particular is extremely uncommon in longbox form, indicating most of that 100,000 in that article were likely pack-ins).

 

The line in Post #10 about Gex eventually selling one million units on 3DO is highly suspect as well. Definitely need a source for that one. If it's true, that would mean that of the supposed 2 million 3DO owners at the end of its life, half of them went out and bought the game (minus whatever was bundled with consoles, mostly FZ-10 units as far as I can tell). That sort of attachment ratio is rarely heard of in the console space, let alone on something like the 3DO, heh.

[CatPix]

In late 1997 a guy I know told me that the Jaguar and 3DO were in clearance in a major retailer.

Him and friend came to buy games  for (the equivalent of) 125$ for the consoles and 15$ per games.

If those sales were general across the country/Europe/the world AND recorded then the figure of 1 million sold or "distributed" (if the million copies include the pack-in, which is probably does) then it become less strange.

[Lamer24]

Thank you for sharing

[+jgkspsx]

On 9/5/2021 at 11:32 AM, Leeroy ST said:

With modern graphics Road Rash could work great. 60fps knocking things off bikes.

Just imagine an open world Road Rash with the same beef mechanic. It would be awesome. Such a shame.

[+Charlie Cat]

1 minute ago, jgkspsx said:

Just imagine an open world Road Rash with the same beef mechanic. It would be awesome. Such a shame.

I agree jgk. It would be awesome indeed. 

 

Anthony..

Edited March 14, 2022 by Charlie Cat

[Punisher5.0]

On 9/5/2021 at 10:32 AM, Leeroy ST said:

With modern graphics Road Rash could work great. 60fps knocking things off bikes.

 

Check out Road Redemption. Its a modern spiritual Road Rash done really well.