PCinssight has posted a Q&A session with Rene Froeleke of ATi.
PCi - In your opinion, how do you think this 3dfx buyout will change the marketplace? Will cards become more $$$?Read more
RF - I heard that before and I think some customers underestimate their own power. Customers know exactly what they want and how much they are willing to pay for it. The higher the price, the smaller the addressable customer base. No company in the PC graphics business will be able to drive sky-high margins all of a sudden just because one competitor dropped out.
So to answer your question, I don´t think this will affect the price policy of any company in this market.
PCi - Why was Radeom MAXX scrapped?
RF - Actually, this is very close to the rumour section. ATI as a company never announced a Radeon MAXX, so we can´t scrap what we didn´t announce. We stated in several interviews that a dual-chip configuration like on the Rage Fury MAXX is in general possible, and some people assumed that we will have a Radeon MAXX. I still stand behind that statement that a MAXX configuration is possible. But we always have to consider how much sense a product makes in todays market. And it does not make much sense to design a board that wins all benchmarks, but you can´t sell it because the costs are too high.
