Vulkan is the evolution of Mantle (get it... get it :)) ?) AMD contributed a lot to the development of this API and then collaborated with Microsoft to create DX12. Mantle will remain as a testbed of future technologies
I get that AMD wants this because it will make CPU performance less important for gamers, as they can't currently compete against Intel here. AMDs APU concept would become more attractive that way.
Valve etc. want this because OpenGL sucks, but DX is Win only.
Microsoft will want to defend its DX stronghold - can they, on a technical level? Will Nvidia play along?
I went back and checked, it was actually an nVidia guy who said that. Rich Geldreich from Valve was also there but he's expressed nothing but disdain for OpenGL since he left the company:
> "I know it's possible for Linux ports to equal or outperform their Windows counterparts, but it's hard. At Valve we had all the driver devs at our beck and call and it was still very difficult to get the Source engine's perf. and stability to where it needed to be relative to Windows. (And this was with a ~8 year old engine - it must be even harder with more modern engines.)"
Valve etc. want this because OpenGL sucks, but DX is Win only.
Microsoft will want to defend its DX stronghold - can they, on a technical level? Will Nvidia play along?