Interactive Multiplayer designer 3DO Co is seeking a new round of financing and told Reuters it is in talks with potential strategic partners that could provide it with not just funds but added muscle in generating global sales of the games system. Trip Hawkins added that the company plans no public offering and any new funding would be non-dilutive to earnings. The new cash would fund the rollout of its next-generation games system based on its new M-2 chip, which is due for the Christmas season this year. The M-2 is a cheaper but more powerful proprietary chip design that Hawkins likes to refer to as the company’s secret weapon, and he says the M-2 and other manufacturing cost savings could shave $100 off the cost of the Multiplayer which now sells for about $400. 3DO is developing the M-2 and licensing it to the company’s manufacturing partners – Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd and Goldstar Co Ltd.He said the company had $19m in cash at December 31, not including a $4m licence fee paid by Matsushita in January. We doubled our installed base in the last three to four months to more than 500,000 game systems worldwide, he said, more than any other 32-bit advanced graphics system.
