GamingBolt recently got the chance to chat with Ray Davis who is the General Manager at Epic Games, looking after Unreal Engine. During the interview, Ray explained to us about the benefits of using DirectX 12 along with Unreal Engine 4, and whether it could have an impact on Xbox One’s performance. With Microsoft renewing its push for games on the PC, how will Unreal Engine 4 help developers to get the most out of the upcoming DirectX 12 API?
“The most intriguing aspect of DirectX 12 to me is the notion that it’s a concerted effort to remove as much cruft from between the developer and the hardware itself, which means out of the box we’re able to immediately do more for free, essentially,” Ray said to GamingBolt. “Microsoft has done a great job with the updates, and it’s also worth mentioning that they’ve been a great partner in soliciting feedback from the developers to help guide the future design. Hopefully we’ll see the official launch soon so players can start seeing the benefits firsthand!”
Microsoft’s Xbox One already has a low level API that resembles DirectX 12. What possible benefits will DX12 along with Unreal Engine 4 bring to games development on Xbox One?
“Unreal Engine 4 already does a great job of showcasing what the Xbox One is capable of and with the advent of DirectX 12 we’re excited to see developers squeezing even more out of the hardware. Several internal Microsoft teams are using UE4 for games development so it’s made it incredibly easy to closely partner with them and to ensure that Unreal Engine is a great development tool for the broader Microsoft ecosystem.”
This is a rather interesting statement by Ray, given that there are so many conflicting views regarding the impact of DirectX 12 on Xbox One. After all, we all want our games to perform well, and the continous improvements in Unreal Engine 4 and DirectX 12 will go a long way to ensure this.
Stay tuned for our full interview with Epic Games in the coming weeks. For more, check out what Epic Games has to say about the next Gears of War here.
