In actually think you'd undershoot the market's potential greatly. Think of Creative's SoundBlaster standard in the early 90s. They ended up having it a standard component (heck try finding a laptop w/o sound capabilities today)) of every computer, even though it only started w. games. Also remember the time there was a majority of b&w computers? I know this might sound far fetched but 3D capabilities could be seen as obvious (thus essential) as either of those w/in the next few years.
Also re fads I totally agree but... How do you upgrade Tickle me elmo? I'd contend the console platforms are the thing to look at (eg Nintendo history), more than toys. The 1,000,000$ question I think might be will 3dfx opportunity be cyclical (like the entire game industry, PC based and console based) or not? And even if so, can they be in the same situation as ERTS (the only game company I can think off that has consistently weathered the down cycles of either, because when consoles were off PC as a game platforms were strong and vice versa)?
I can promise you than from a software developer standpoint (though I'd like to make sure that is also true from a sw _game_ developer standpoint) having one platform, say 3dfx PC, dominate, be versatile enough, performant enough and cheap enough to both replace today's consoles and be the continuation of today's game PCs, is highly attractive. It would make their developments much easier, cheaper, faster, ... and the whole sw game industry more profitable as a whole.
In a funny way, 3dfx might end up being the resounding success that Trip Hawkins was envisioning (in its wildest dreams) for 3DO.
Eric |
