Update at 19:14 EDT Aug 5, 2021:: It’s been revealed that all of this was a parody by the main account.
Update at 17:00 EDT Aug 5, 2021: On their Twitter account, 3dfx has shared an update stating that:
Last night, Our team released a Q3 2021 Announcements thread, causing some mixed reception. We would like to inform you that 3dfx is still returning, despite most people thinking otherwise. We also noticed a typo error on our tweet regarding our products, it’s not CEC, it’s @CES
The original piece remains unchanged.
Former graphics processing unit (GPU) designer 3dfx Interactive’s alleged return from the dead is making headlines in the technology industry and a social media handle belonging to the resurrected company has shared more details about its revival. According to the details, Jansen Products acquired the company’s assets in mid-July, and once the process is complete, 3dfx plans to launch a host of new products and drastically increase its customer base and employee count.
3dfx Hints At More Than 600 Projects and Significant Pivot From Original Business Model
The company, which was known for manufacturing graphics cards, has now announced a pivot from its original industry into the home entertainment and hardware sector. This is natural since the bulk of 3dfx’s assets were purchased by Santa Clara, California-based graphics processing unit (GPU) designer NVIDIA Corporation.
In a series of slides posted on its Twitter handle (if authentic), the company reveals that it has planned no less than six products for launch once Jansen completes the acquisition process. it will introduce these products at the “CEC 2022” conference.
A brief lookup of CEC 2022 reveals that the abbreviation stands for the ‘Council for Exceptional Children’, an unlikely area to debut new technology products. In addition to being a major red flag for the entire presentation posted on Twitter, that we’ve shared below, it also hints that perhaps 3dfx intends to make its comeback at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that is also set to take place next year in Las Vegas, Nevada and digitally.
The details reveal that 3dfx plans to introduce the following products:
- 3dfx Voodo 6 PCI
- 3dfx Ruffon Smartphone
- 3dfx Brozzo Bluetooth Speaker
- 3dfx 5.1 home theater system
- 3dfx Galaxian Tablet (128GB)
- 3dfx Lithium 77K5D Smart TV
— 3dfx Interactive (@3dfxofficial) August 5, 2021
Additionally, the company also tries to explain its reasoning for pivoting from the GPU market into the home entertainment sector in a slide titled “Why Expand Into Other Products”, but falls short of providing the reason by simply stating below that:
The original company focused on video cards and 3D graphics processing units. We want to focus our attention on creating smartphones, appliances, smart TV’s, bluetooth speakers, etc.
It then follows this up with optimistic projections for the six months ending by the first quarter of next year. By this time, 3dfx plans to gain more than 900,000 customers, expand to more than 300 employees and begin work on more than 600 projects. The investment which it needs to secure for this growth is not provided in the presentation.
However, while it does not provide specific dollar terms for its investment, it does share on how the money will be spent. According to the company, 45% each will go towards developing hardware and sound systems and smartphones, smart televisions and appliances respectively, with the remainder, i.e. 10%, going towards video cards. This makes it clear that moving forward, graphics processing units will not be the focus of attention for a company that originally debuted in the sector.
Most of 3dfx’s intellectual property and assets were sold to NVIDIA in 2000 in order for the company to raise cash to pay creditors. NVIDIA chose to discontinue software support for the company’s products after the acquisition, and 3dfx’s demise is often blamed on its chief executive officer’s decision to spend millions in research and development without recovering the investments through successful product launches.
Given the nature of today’s information, and the overall uncertainty surrounding the recent developments, readers are advised to take everything herein with the proverbial grain of salt.
The post 3dfx Shares Half Hearted Presentation With Product Debut At Children’s Conference by Ramish Zafar appeared first on Wccftech.
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