And why was the price so high? It was due to the weird licensing stuff behind the scenes. The 3DO company didn't make any consoles themselves but instead licensed the tech and the brand out to electronics companies, which is why you have 3DO consoles from Panasonic, Goldstar, and I think at least one more I can't recall right now. Just like with VCRs and CD players, those companies had to make their profit just by selling the box, since they didn't make any games and therefore couldn't do the "razor and blades" model that Sega, Sony, Nintendo, and Atari could do - sell the console at a loss and make up the difference by selling and licensing games.
All that said, I remembered the 3DO sticking around for quite a while despite it quickly becoming apparent it wasn't going to take off. Wikipedia says its "Lifespan" was 1993 through 1996, which sounds about right - that's longer than the Dreamcast lasted.