AMD manager has gone into damage control over comments he made about the DirectX API in a recent interview with Bit-Tech.
Richard Huddy, manager of AMD's GPU division, commented that developers wanted the DirectX API to "go away", saying developers had made such admissions in conversations. He hinted that DirectX and other APIs get in the way of creating some amazing computer graphics.
However, in a newer interview with CRN, Huddy seemed to be backing off the stance and even claimed the comments shouldn't be taken literally. "The [Bit-tech] interview started off being about OpenGL, and the way APIs are developed," Huddy said.
"Obviously there's pressure from Microsoft on hardware vendors to develop DirectX in a variety of ways. We spend a great deal of time getting feedback from game developers in the early phase of our hardware development, for products that are two or three years away from going to market."
He said that only a handful of high-end gaming developers want to bypass DirectX and code directly for hardware. "If you held a vote among developers, they would go for DirectX or OpenGL, because it's a great platform. It's hard to crash a machine with Direct X, as there’s lots of protection to make sure the game isn’t taking down the machine, which is certainly rare especially compared to ten or fifteen years ago."
He said the comment about developers wanting DirectX to "go away" shouldn't be taken literally. "Many people are still shipping DirectX 9 games, which is still a perfectly reasonable way to go," Huddy admitted.
However, in a newer interview with CRN, Huddy seemed to be backing off the stance and even claimed the comments shouldn't be taken literally. "The [Bit-tech] interview started off being about OpenGL, and the way APIs are developed," Huddy said.
"Obviously there's pressure from Microsoft on hardware vendors to develop DirectX in a variety of ways. We spend a great deal of time getting feedback from game developers in the early phase of our hardware development, for products that are two or three years away from going to market."
He said that only a handful of high-end gaming developers want to bypass DirectX and code directly for hardware. "If you held a vote among developers, they would go for DirectX or OpenGL, because it's a great platform. It's hard to crash a machine with Direct X, as there’s lots of protection to make sure the game isn’t taking down the machine, which is certainly rare especially compared to ten or fifteen years ago."
He said the comment about developers wanting DirectX to "go away" shouldn't be taken literally. "Many people are still shipping DirectX 9 games, which is still a perfectly reasonable way to go," Huddy admitted.
