Microsoft DirectX 12 Announcement To Be Made At GDC Today

A blog post on MSDN recently confirmed that Microsoft will introduce DirectX 12 at GDC on March 20, 2014. That day has arrived and we are waiting to enter the DirectX session being held at the Game Developers Conference called “DirectX: Evolving Microsoft’s Graphics Platform.” We are really excited for this announcement and it looks like Microsoft already has AMD, Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm on the band wagon as all are currently have or are preparing DX12 hardware.

It has been a long time since DirectX has been updated. DX10 was released in 2006 and DX11 was released in 2009. It has been roughly five years since DirectX has had a significant update and many feel it is incredibly overdue. Things recently got interesting with the the release of AMD’s Mantle API and how game developers are baking it. DirectX 12 will obviously be a direct competitor to AMDs Mantle API and we can’t wait to talk with the presenters after the session today to get a better fell as to what is going to happen with everything. This quote from the MSDN blog shows how Microsoft is stepping up to the plate and it appears that AMD Mantle has made them get closer to the metal!

“For nearly 20 years, DirectX has been the platform used by game developers to create the fastest, most visually impressive games on the planet,” the description reads. “However, you asked us to do more. You asked us to bring you even closer to the metal and to do so on an unparalleled assortment of hardware. You also asked us for better tools so that you can squeeze every last drop of performance out of your PC, tablet, phone and console.”