Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by shmerl 1226 days ago
Engineering reasons just don't seem convincing when MS has DX only policy on Xbox and a long history of anti competitive behavior, especially in the gaming segment.

If MS would have allowed using Vulkan on Xbox for instance, I would have been more willing to give them the benefit of a doubt. But as it stands, I see them pushing DX as having lock-in motives.
2 comments
smileybarry 1226 days ago
> […] when MS has DX only policy on Xbox […]

PlayStation only supports Sony’s own, proprietary Gnm/Gnmx[1]. I heard their APIs are somewhat based on (very old) OpenGL, but different enough to not actually be compatible.

Nintendo Switch supporting OpenGL or Vulkan is an exception in the console space.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4_system_software#...

link
MindSpunk 1226 days ago
Very few switch games use Vulkan on the Switch. NVN is the true native graphics API on the Switch, which is Nvidia's API. Those that have tried Vulkan on Switch usually end up ditching it for NVN as Vulkan leaves too much performance on the table on a system with little power to spare.
link
shmerl 1226 days ago
Sure, I'm not saying Sony is any better in this regard. They copy worst ideas from each other.
link
smileybarry 1226 days ago
Right, but my point is that this isn’t some famous malicious intentional lock-in by “evil Microsoft” — it’s how every console is designed. (And arguably Xbox has an advantage here because it shares DirectX with Windows)

There’s no evil MS lock-in here.

link
shmerl 1226 days ago
Not really. It has nothing to do with console idea or form factor, it's just how these messed up companies are "designed" in using anti-competitive methods. See Steam Deck which uses Vulkan just fine.

There is absolutely lock-in in MS and Sony's approaches. There is no inherent need in it just becasue it's a console.

link
Femtiono 1226 days ago
Of course they want to control the ecosystem the same as every one else.

There is a reason for NES games having a certificate from Nintendo.

And yes most developers do not care about it anyway if it's good.

link
shmerl 1226 days ago
That's not an excuse for lock-in. But they indeed always tried to do that. ActiveX, browser wars, etc.
link