Ross Smith, a co-founder of the now-defunct 3dfx, has credited id Software's groundbreaking shooter Quake with a substantial contribution to the company's overall success. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first 3dfx Voodoo graphics card, Smith highlighted the 'Quake effect' in a recent interview with Club386.
While Quake initially launched in June 1996, its full potential for 3D hardware acceleration was unlocked in early 1997 with the release of GLQuake. According to reports, id Software's John Carmack collaborated with 3dfx, leading to the development of an API called MiniGL. This integration allowed 3dfx cards to render Quake at higher resolutions, with greater detail, and a wider spectrum of colors.
"I would certainly give id, John, and Quake a great deal of credit for our overall success—we probably sold millions of boards because of that game, and it was magnificent," Smith stated. He also remarked on the game's quality, calling it "well crafted, beautiful, dark," and noted it was the last game he completed.
The close working relationship between 3dfx and game developers was a cornerstone of the company's strategy. Smith explained that unlike many contemporaries who viewed game developers as a "necessary evil," 3dfx saw them as the "lifeblood of a company that’s focused on gaming." This approach involved demonstrating games pre-rendered on Voodoo cards, a practice that was reportedly met with enthusiasm by developers.
This developer-centric model paved the way for advancements in GPU technology. The Voodoo cards were designed as co-processors specifically for 3D acceleration, working alongside a 2D card to offload tasks from the CPU. Smith noted that this specialization meant 3dfx cards did not include VGA capabilities, a deliberate choice to streamline development and focus on compatibility with a targeted set of games rather than a broad range of applications.
This symbiotic relationship between hardware manufacturers and game developers has become a common practice in the industry today, with companies like Nvidia, Intel, and AMD actively collaborating with developers. Notably, Nvidia acquired many of 3dfx's assets after its bankruptcy in the early 2000s, a move that indirectly contributed to Nvidia's subsequent successes.