The primary reason 3dfx failed was having a proprietary API, having zero 2D support (and absolute garbage when it finally did), horrendous texture mapping (blurred as fuck), and OpenGL was done through a wrapper. The same problem PowerVR , but for different reasons. The tech on the PowerVR chip was leagues ahead, but the wafer fab tech of the time couldn't produce units very effectively.
I'm also sad this article didn't include any mention about S3 Savage chips, or Descent. S3 was a tertiary player but their cards rendered much better images, albeit at much lower frames, and heavier cpu utilization, but had solid 2D support.
The beginning of the rivalry between Nvidia and ATI, that persists to this day, was also a huge factor. Remember owning all of the following: Rage, Rage 128, Rage Fury, Rage FURY MAXX, Riva 128, Riva TNT, and so many others that seemed to come out rapid fire, year after year.
Remember a buddy had a pair of Voodoo2's on a P2-233 system, and seeing Quake 2 run like butter, but also looking like shit.
Still, 3dfx owners were all the rage at the end of the LAN party era.
There was also the hot second when Matrox video cards were the 2D rage and they started creating Direct3D compatible cards, but like mentioned in the article, were also priced well outside consumer pricing, and performed pretty poorly, but produced excellent renders.
The article connects some good points between the origin and current happenings, but doesn't really get into the nitty gritty.