nVidia + Ageia = $ in the Bank

A few hours ago the announcement was officially posted that nVidia is acquiring Ageia. I am genuinely really excited about this. A few weeks ago I blogged about add-on cards, and more specifically about how I think the technology behind them is the soul of the enthusiast industry. Situations like this are sometimes really what these smaller guys really need : an infusion of big-business support.

nVidia is a great company, flat-out. They're growing steadily, stock is doing great, and they're killing it out here in the trenches. They've got an edge right now, so buying up this technology is proof that physics processing is a real factor (I knew it, I knew it) and not just grasping for a break. That's all of the obvious stuff out of the way.

Consider now what has been the problem for Ageia all this time? The main issue has been getting developer support to implement the technology, right? They've had a killer product, but couldn't get enough developers to actual implement it to create the market for gamers to have any reason to buy it. Man, tell me that doesn't sound exactly like the type of problem that nVidia has chewed up and spit out over the past few years. I recently blogged about how 1) Console gaming is trouncing all over PC gaming in the gross $$ department, but 2) the enthusiast market in the PC industry will not die and these people pay a huge premium for their hardware, and 3) they want the hardware so they can play games! PC gaming and enthusiast hardware, as we know them today, cannot exist without each other. nVidia's business is built on enthusiast hardware, so they are practically driving the PC game market so they can sell their products!

Fire up any popular PC game right now, you'll see what I mean: nVidia is plastered all over the place. Look at their nZone website. They're going to start selling games there. They're building a network to rival Steam, and leveraging all of their partners to sell games through the portal too. nVidia connects their OEM's (like XFX, eVGA, Asus, etc etc) with game developers for bundle deals, further driving sales. I was at nVidia's main event at CES, a private, no-press shindig just for game developers to show their upcoming titles for nVidia's partners, further promoting the synergy. They are renting out Silicon Valley's entire downtown in August for their nVision conference (I'll be there!), which will be hitting everything from digital art, to technology, to a huge LAN party with pro gamer attendance. I'm serious. They aren't kidding around here. nVidia is the tail that wags the industry.

nVidia is already doing what Ageia has had years of trouble accomplishing. They have the history, contacts, money, partners, expertise, and personnel to sell this technology. That's what's important here. They don't have to add one thing to Ageia and they can make a bunch of money.