Cyberpunk 2077 will be a DirectX 12-only game on PC – Windows 7 will be supported

Cyberpunk 2077 will be a DirectX 12-only game on PC - Windows 7 will be supported

Cyberpunk 2077 will be a DirectX 12-only game on PC – Windows 7 will be supported

In a recent interview with PC Games Hardware, CD Projekt Red’s Marcin Gollent, the studio’s lead graphics programmer, confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 would be a DirectX-only release on PC. In addition to this, it was confirmed that the API would be supported on both Windows 10 and Windows 7. 

In one swoop, Cyberpunk 2077 has solved the problem which plagues most DirectX 12 games on PC, dual API support. By using Microsoft’s Windows 7 DirectX 12 implementation, CD Projekt Red can forgo the use of DirectX 11, eliminating the need to support both graphical APIs.  

By going all-in with DirectX 12, CD Projekt Red can focus its development efforts onto a single graphical API, eliminating the extra development time and QA that’s required to get the game running on two graphical APIs. This choice also eliminates the “does the game run better on DX11 or DX12” debate, as PC gamers don’t need to figure out which API is best for them. DirectX 12 will be the focus on Cyberpunk’s development efforts, and that should give the game a strong DirectX 12 implementation. 

There are two reasons why Cyberpunk 2077 uses DirectX 12 on PC. For starters, DirectX 12 is the standard API for Xbox platforms, and second, DirectX 12 is the “birthplace of DXR”, allowing CD Projekt Red to explore ray tracing support on PC. As mentioned before, Windows 7 support for DirectX 12 has allowed CD Projekt Red to go all-in on DirectX 12, leaving Windows 8/8.1 as the only recent Windows OS to lack support for Cyberpunk 2077. 

While Cyberpunk 2077 will support DirectX 12 Ultimate features, Cyberpunk 2077 will be able to run on all DirectX 12 compliant graphics cards. High-end DirectX 12 Ultimate features will be restricted to compatible graphics cards, such as DXR ray tracing, but that won’t stop users of older GPU enjoying Cyberpunk 2077. 
   

Cyberpunk 2077 will be a DirectX 12-only game on PC - Windows 7 will be supported  
CD Projekt Red’s decision to release Cyberpunk 2077 as a DirectX 12-only game on PC is a clever one, as it will allow Cyberpunk 2077 to be free from the legacy trappings of Microsoft’s DirectX 11 API. This decision allows CD Projekt Red to fully focus on DirectX 12 and make full use of the API’s feature set, which is great news for users of both old and new gaming PCs. 

You can join the discussion on Cyberpunk 2077 being a DirectX 12 only release on PC on the OC3D Forums. 

Cyberpunk 2077 will be a DirectX 12-only game on PC - Windows 7 will be supported Â