2025 marks 10 years after the official launch of DirectX 12 for Windows 10. This came after a relatively frequent release cycle over the years, starting with one of the first ever DirectX showcase games: Doom 95. A project started by none other than Gabe Newell while he was still at Microsoft, but shortly before he left to found Valve.
So, roughly a dozen iterations of DirectX from 1995 to 2015, but no numbered DirectX version in the ten years following that. After DirectX 8, the release cadence did widen with every new release, but in the history of the API such a long gap is unprecedented, so what’s going on?
DirectX 12 was supposed to be a clean break
The first important thing you should know is that “DirectX” is the name of the unified set of APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces) that Windows uses as an intermediary between your hardware and applications like video games. It was a big breakthrough, because it meant that as long as a given device and app were both DirectX compliant, they could work together. It was rough going at first, but by the time we were at DirectX 7, 8, and 9, things had matured considerably and the transition to DX10 was actually protracted and rocky, as I recall from the time.
DirectX 11 was effectively the pinnacle of refinement of what had come before, and tellingly, there are still modern games that use DirectX 11 and not DirectX 12. Notably, Baldur’s Gate 3!
DirectX 12 was a big, clean break from what had come before. Of course, we’d had the same thing happen with DirectX 10, and just ended up with DX9 and DX10 working in parallel, but this time it really was different. DirectX 12 was meant to give PC developers the sort of low-level hardware access they enjoyed on gaming consoles.
This would make it easier to make full use of modern multicore CPUs, to talk to the GPU directly, and take control of memory management in ways that wouldn’t have been allowed before. DX12 gave developers the keys to the kingdom, but it also gave them more responsibility. Ironically, there are plenty of games that run faster under DX11 on the same hardware compared to DX12 with no obvious visual returns, so how much of a success DX12 has been is debatable. But, that’s a story for another day!
DirectX quietly evolved instead of being replaced
I think the big clue as to why we’re stuck on DirectX 12 has to do with a particularly bold claim Microsoft made back in 2015 (as reported in The Verge) that Windows 10 would be the “last version” of Windows. It would become a live service platform, and just receive continuous updates. So, logically, the version of DirectX that launched with this version of Windows would get the same treatment.
The problem, of course, is that Microsoft has the collective long-term strategic capabilities of a goldfish. So now we’re on Windows 11 and eyeing up Windows 12 at some point.
The truth is that DirectX 12 (now known as DX12 Ultimate, which will probably be an ironic name too) isn’t the same API that launched a decade ago. It’s undergone constant updates and support for new features as more capable hardware has come to market, and new software technologies and game engines are developed.
How to update DirectX on Windows 11
It’s easier than it’s ever been to get DirectX updates.
DX12 Ultimate is an example of a list of features added to DX12 that are only supported on some CPUs and GPUs: DXR, VRS, Mesh Shaders, Sampler Feedback and more. Since the foundation of DX12 was meant to be the future of PC graphics, it means that they can simply build on that foundation for the foreseeable future.
To make a long story short, we sort of already have a “DirectX 13”. It’s just a naming convention that’s been broken, and you can even think of it as a similar situation to the whole DirectX 9.0a, 9.0b, and 9.0c thing we had in the past. Just stretched out over much more time. If there ever is a DirectX 13, it’s going to be a branding exercise like Windows 11 rather than a real new fundamental shift.
The future of DirectX is quieter and more fragmented
One part of this story is that game development has changed a lot over the years. The major game engines used to develop notable titles today ironically abstract developers away from APIs like DX12. So they think in terms of “Unreal Engine” rather than the specific API that the game will finally be compiled for.
Unless there’s another “clean break” in hardware that requires a rethink of the software bones that underpin our games and other multimedia apps, I wouldn’t bet on lucky number 13 showing up any time soon. Though if DX12 evolved for long enough, hardware on the trailing edge will lose support in newer titles. In fact, some games today require ray tracing at a minimum, so it’s actually already happened!
