AMD Mantle Comes to an End

AMD’s Mantle set a lot of things in motion in the gaming industry and now it looks like it is coming to an end, at least in its current form. AMD will continue to back the companies who invested in it and created games for the API, but its usefulness in the current form has come to an end.

DirectX 12 is taking over the job that Mantle does right now and AMD will instead continue down that road as well as help to develop the next generation of OpenGL, called GLnext.

This news comes from an AMD blog post by Raja Koduri that also promises the release of a 450-page programming guide and API reference for Mantle later this month. Finally, we’ll be able to get a closer look at how Mantle works and how it made a difference.

1. AMD will continue to support our trusted partners that have committed to Mantle in future projects, like Battlefield Hardline, with all the resources at our disposal.
2. Mantle’s definition of “open” must widen. It already has, in fact. This vital effort has replaced our intention to release a public Mantle SDK, and you will learn the facts on Thursday, March 5 at GDC 2015.
3. Mantle must take on new capabilities and evolve beyond mastery of the draw call. It will continue to serve AMD as a graphics innovation platform available to select partners with custom needs.
   The Mantle SDK also remains available to partners who register in this co-development and evaluation program. However, if you are a developer interested in Mantle “1.0” functionality, we suggest that you focus your attention on DirectX 12 or GLnext.

We’ve already heard what DirectX 12 is capable off, so it’s no surprise that AMD is backing this road. This is going to be an interesting year, there is no doubt about it.

Thanks to AMD for providing us with this information