RCA Studio II was a disaster for RCA. So logically, they decided to double-down and immediately began working on the RCA Studio III. The Studio III could be thought of as a Studio II with color. But it was a bit more than that. It had half as much system RAM, but added the very important feature of dedicated 256B video RAM so the program didn't need to interleave video output and game logic (as all previous RCA computers and consoles had). The 256B of system was two to four times as useful now. Additionally, the video RAM was reentrant, designed to store 'patterns' (graphics) as well a frames to be displayed on the TV. Clever programming could repurposed the video RAM for sound and general storage as well. Cartridges could be 1K (before bank switching). They made a prototype and demoed it at CES 1978. A programming guide was also produced. But then someone at RCA finally realized that all the other home systems at the time were much better than the Studio III. They were ready to give up but the Chinese Conic Group begged to take over the project. Conic managed to sell 200,000 units (possibly) in many countries around the world and there were even some sold in North America. European licensees made modified units to standardize misuse of the video RAM for sound. Different licensees made units with more video RAM and ways to abuse it. So, games exist that only work for the region they were designed for. But there was a bit of good news. All units are backwards compatible and Studio II games work fine. Many consoles based on the Studio III were mistaken for Studio II compatibles with consumers being unaware of the additional power (and color) hidden inside. In the end, Studio III just didn't compare to its competition. No new 1st or 2nd party games were made beyond the initial launch titles. The Studio III was over in the same year that it launched. So naturally, RCA began work on the Studio IV. Studio IV was canceled late in the planning stage.
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