The Twitter account known as 3dfxofficial (opens in new tab) is at it again, tweeting almost certain nonsense with just enough verisimilitude to make us want to believe it. Having previously claimed (opens in new tab) that fondly remembered ‘90s graphics card manufacturer 3dfx would be returning, with a date of August 5th, its latest digital missive claims it will not only be manufacturing GPUs but also smart TVs and even phones.
Statement on the return of 3dfx. pic.twitter.com/KKsFmAxLAGAugust 4, 2021
The statement, embedded above, claims a San Francisco company called Jansen Products has acquired 3dfx’s assets and is trademarking the name. Its engineers will be answering questions about the return on the 5th. Allegedly.
Whoever’s behind the account can re-color all the Voodoo 5 box art it likes, but things just don’t add up. We couldn’t find a reference to a company of that name in the EDGAR (opens in new tab) database of company filings, or on Google beyond a Belgian building company, and the trademark remains cancelled or expired (opens in new tab). The name Jansen, keen minds will note, is just a little bit close to Jensen, the adopted name of Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.
Unless Nvidia (which owns the defunct GPU brand) is planning to rebrand ARM as 3dfx once the lawyering over its planned takeover (opens in new tab) is finished, or there’s a special edition 1050Ti (opens in new tab) on its way, we’re still filing this in the large round receptacle in the corner before getting misty eyed about Voodoo 3 cards and Unreal Tournament.
