DirectX 10 Vista exclusivity a terrible mistake

A recent online survey by Valve points out that, only one in 50 gamers have Windows Vista and DirectX 10 compatible graphics cards to play DirectX 10-based games. It also has found that only 8% PC gamers run Windows Vista. The results of this Valve survey hold significance because Microsoft has announced Vista exclusivity for DirectX 10 prompting panic among PC gamers who don’t have the OS (a majority).

Gabe Newell, president Valve Software, in an interview to a German gaming website, termed the Vista exclusivity of DirectX 10 a “terrible mistake” on part of Microsoft.

He believes that a majority of game developers are not ready to adopt DirectX 10 for now, as most gamers don’t have Vista. Another major reason dissuading developers from using DirextX 10 is that XBOX 360 and PS3 do not support Shader Model 04 used by DirectX 10. So, the developers would have to develop the PC and console versions of multi-platform games separately, which would be cumbersome and costly.

This reluctance of developers to use DirectX 10 should comfort the panic stricken PC gamers who don’t own Vista. All gamers, still mulling a switch to Vista, can make the switch when game developers raise the alarm. Microsoft hurried into the launch of the XBOX 360 two years ago and it has hurriedly announced a Vista-only DirectX 10 now. It probably felt that the Vista exclusivity would make gamers upgrade to the new operating system, but its gambit has come unstuck because of the game developers.

Read [Heise Online] Via [Kotaku] Also Read [Gamertell]