Last week, AMD’s chief gaming scientist said that “DirectX 12 is not coming to Windows 7.” Today, AMD sent us a statement that clarified that Richard Huddy was speculating, and doesn’t have any special insight into Microsoft’s roadmap for DirectX 12.
What Huddy said at the time seemed clear cut, not speculative, but the original video where he made the statement is no longer online.
“There have been reports based on a video of Richard Huddy of AMD making speculative comments around DirectX 12 support on versions of Windows,” AMD made in a statement earlier today. “Richard Huddy does not speak for Microsoft, and he was unfortunately speculating from Microsoft’s publication of key dates and milestones for Windows 7 lifecycle and mainstream support policy. Richard has no special insight into Microsoft’s Windows or DirectX roadmaps. Microsoft is a key, strategic partner for AMD and we’re continuously collaborating with them on DirectX 12.”
DirectX 12, which was unveiled at GDC earlier this year, will ship with Windows 10 and was confirmed to be compatible with Windows 8, but with Huddy’s comments now being called speculative, it’s not clear if it will also be on Windows 7. It certainly would make sense if it wasn’t, as it would be a good reason for those – like myself – still holding onto Windows 7 to upgrade.
At GDC, Nvidia also confirmed that it’s DX11 GPUs would support DX12, though it’s not clear what AMD cards will support it.