Microsoft And AMD Agree: Mantle Will Not Be On Consoles

Microsoft and AMD have clarified the availability and role of Mantle in this upcoming console generation. On one point, both companies agree: Mantle is not going to be on consoles.

Microsoft released an official blog post about Direct3D, and where they plan to bring it for both Windows 8.1 and Xbox One.  In their blog, Microsoft makes it clear that Xbox One will be using its own version of the Direct3D API, called Direct3D 11.x, and this API will come with unique additions to Direct3D 11.2.

Of course, Microsoft talks up the positives of Windows 8.1 and Xbox One running the same API, but these aren’t quite relevant to this discussion. Most important of all, Microsoft explicitly states that Mantle, as well as OpenGL, will not be available on Xbox One.

@killyourfm @francmoo Mantle is NOT in consoles. What Mantle creates for the PC (cont'd: http://t.co/cEQn97xZsn) ^RH

— AMD Radeon Graphics (@AMDRadeon) October 14, 2013

When pressed for a response, the official AMDRadeon Twitter account confirmed, point blank, that Mantle is not coming to any consoles.  Instead, what Mantle does is make a development environment similar to these consoles. Like PS4 and Xbox One, PC developers using Mantle will find a low level API, close-to-metal programming, and easier development. On a side note, close-to-metal is a technical term, itself referring to a low-level programming interface that basically made programming easier.

Mantle will make programming easier for devs who make console games, but won’t actually be on consoles. So why does AMD keep associating Mantle with consoles? As they put it, it all comes down to Radeon. AMD’s argument is developers are programming console games with Radeon architecture in mind. Therefore, it wouldn’t take that much for them to be able to bring that programming to Radeon PCs, and in fact, AMD created what developers needed to bring that programming to PC, in the form of Mantle.

So it turns out earlier speculation that Mantle will be compatible with PS4 and Xbox One is not actually true. (Nobody seems to be taking bets on the Wii U here, and Nintendo's Web Framework seems to keep making headway in adding standards, so maybe Nintendo can surprise us sometime, but that’s a tangential point for now.)  AMD’s big bet is now clear: Developers will make games for consoles also work on AMD cards. Will the AAAs bite? Watch this space as we’ll keep track of events and keep you posted.