Update vom 06. August: Our assumptions that the alleged comeback of 3dfx is just a delusion have come true. 3dfx is not returning, instead the whole operation was a large-scale troll attempt.
the Twitter-Account, which fueled the rumor mill in the last few days, has now been deleted. This also affects a Powerpoint presentation that presented the planned product portfolio and the company’s future (via wccftech), which in the end only finally exposed the troll.
Among other things, it said that the new 3dfx products, including a graphics card with the eye-catching name »3dfx Voodo 6 PCI«, should not be presented until 2022 and not in winter 2021, as communicated just a few hours earlier.
As if that hadn’t already been conspicuous enough, the alleged investment company behind 3dfx wanted to win over 900,000 new customers within two quarters. A thoroughly ambitious, if not completely unrealistic goal in view of the global component bottlenecks.
The story has now been cleared up: 3dfx is not returning, at least for the foreseeable future, and the investing company Jansen Products does not exist either. So if you have already speculated on a new Voodoo graphics card, you will unfortunately have to put these dreams aside.
Original message: A few days ago we reported that the legendary graphics card manufacturer 3dfx Interactive may be on the verge of a resurrection. At least that is what a new Twitter account and teasers suggest. We viewed the report or the channel very critically and classified it as a fake.
Now there is another tweet. And that not only brings a little more light into the darkness, but also makes the »reincarnation« appear a little more realistic. Not in the way you might think, or better: hope you would like to.
How 3dfx Interactive changed the world of PC graphics in the 90s with the legendary Voodoo 3D accelerator, you can find out in the following article:
more on the subject
How 3dfx changed the world of PC graphics
Investment group behind 3dfx?
An allegedly newly founded investment group from San Francisco, with the almost generic-sounding name Jansen Products, is said to have secured the assets of and the naming rights to 3dfx Interactive on July 23, 2021.
Link to Twitter content
It is possible there according to Wikipedia The trademark protection of the name 3dfx by Nvidia already ended in 2016. As confirmatory as that may sound, there is still a small catch to the story.
We cannot find the company Jansen Products in San Francisco, at least it cannot be searched for with the help of common search engines and there are also no entries in various company registers (Marcaria Trademark Search, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). At the moment, the only indication of their existence is the tweet – a recursive and therefore invalid argument.
Which 3dfx products should there be?
But let’s assume that Jansen Products really exist and that they are bringing 3dfx back to life, at least as a brand. What should there be under the legendary label – what is conceivable?
According to the tweet, new graphics cards from 3dfx will be available from this winter. The fact that this refers to accelerators developed and produced in-house can be virtually ruled out: even if Jansen Products were able to acquire any patents, the technical innovations would be out of date. And it is even more unlikely that an entire development department, production facilities, and whatever else that goes with it will spring up out of the ground within a very short time.
It is very likely that custom graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia will be sold under the name 3dfx – such as a »3dfx RTX 3080« or a »3dfx RX 6800 XT«. These could be produced in China and simply labeled accordingly.
If it doesn’t come to that and you still want to reminisce, you can get an old 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500, because it actually still runs under Windows 10:
more on the subject
Ancient graphics card runs under Windows 10
The tweet also states that other products will also be offered in connection with smartphones, smart TVs and sound systems. So we are curious what to expect.
What do you all mean? Will we soon see products under the name 3dfx? Feel free to write it in the comments!
