Today is the 18th anniversary of the closing of 3dfx and we can remember its failures and its last months. The first thing is to remember his last press release:
[Blockierte Grafik: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DueZFjNWwAETvdf.jpg]
If we go back, the problems started with their focus on the OEM market. They continued when the company wanted to make the cards themselves exclusively. And they ended with delays and more delays in their developments. There were more failures but those are the main ones.
The graphics OEM of 3dfx were too expensive for OEM but not top for gamers. The purchase of STB was a complete disaster and they did not focus on productive projects such as Rampage or Daytona.
Nvidia was partly to blame, and other companies such Intel and Microsoft, but the only real guilty was 3dfx. This is the truth although I don't like to say it.
The fall of 3dfx was not something surprising, the box began to empty little by little since the launch of the 3500. The development of the VSA100 ate the resources of the Rampage and none ended well. The launch of the 5500 was a cataclysm, and the 4500 ... I prefer shut up.
With no money reserves, a solution had to be found and there were two: Purchase from another company (Nvidia had been interested for a while), or external investment. After a very truculent story and that smells really bad, it was NVIDIA who stayed with 3dfx killing her.
Why was nvidia chosen? What role did nvidia or other companies play in their fall? What problems did the development of Rampage or VSA-100 have? Why was the Voodoo3 and the 4500 launched one year late? What bad decisions were made at that time? I will talk about this in other time.
Link: https://twitter.com/3dfxlegacy/status/1073995364276101123
