3dfx Interactive

3dfx Interactive was founded in 1994 by Ross Smith, Gary Tarolli, and Scott Sellers, engineers who had previously worked on high-end silicon-graphics workstation chips and arcade hardware. Their key insight was that the geometry and texture-mapping capabilities previously used in flight simulators could be adapted to an affordable add-in card for standard PCs.

The result was the 1996 Voodoo Graphics chipset, which quickly gained popularity. When paired with the company's Glide API, cards such as the Orchid Righteous 3D transformed software-rendered games into smooth, bilinearly filtered experiences. Games like GLQuake and the subsequent arcade-perfect port culture made Voodoo cards a must-have for serious gamers. The 1998 release of Voodoo2 introduced SLI, allowing two boards to operate together, and "3dfx" became synonymous with PC 3D graphics.

The company's decline was as swift as its rise. In 1998, 3dfx acquired board-maker STB Systems and shifted to selling its own Voodoo-branded cards, which alienated third-party partners who had previously distributed its chips widely. Meanwhile, a resurgent Nvidia launched the GeForce, which featured hardware transform-and-lighting and a faster release schedule that 3dfx could not match. The delayed and power-hungry Voodoo5 and the cancelled Rampage project further damaged the company's prospects.

Facing bankruptcy and running out of funds, 3dfx sold most of its intellectual property and much of its engineering talent to Nvidia in late 2000 before shutting down entirely. Its legacy endured: SLI later reappeared as a Nvidia feature, and nostalgia for "Glide" continues in emulation communities. Few hardware companies achieved such rapid success or had such a lasting impact on making 3D acceleration a standard expectation for gamers.