AMD Announces New Mantle API and Gaming Evolved Partnerships

We received a couple of AMD press releases today announcing new partnerships for Gaming Evolved and their Mantle API. Gaming Evolved, is an ISV relationship program which assists game developers in creating and enhancing the PC gaming experience for those using AMD hardware. Partnering with AMD’s Gaming Evolved is Rebellion Developments, Square Enix, and Xaviant.

• With Mantle API support, Rebellion Developments will improve performance for AMD Radeon™ customers with their upcoming release of Sniper Elite III.
• Square Enix’s upcoming release of Murdered: Soul Suspect will include optimized DirectX® 11 effects.
• Xaviant’s current development, Lichdom, will feature support for AMD’s TressFX Hair and AMD TrueAudio technologies.

Here is the press release announcing the new Gaming Evolved partnerships.

AMD today announced three new game developer partnerships for AMD Gaming Evolved, an ISV relationship program that assists developers in creating an enhanced PC gaming experience. Rebellion Developments, Square Enix® and Xaviant are the latest developers to join AMD in optimizing PC games to make them look better and run better for every gamer on AMD hardware.

“AMD is proud to play an instrumental role in enabling quality PC gaming experiences,” said Ritche Corpus, director of ISV gaming and alliances, AMD. “With collaboration between AMD and leading studios like Rebellion, Square Enix and Xaviant, we can work together to optimize the image quality and performance of highly-anticipated titles for an intense gaming experience.”

Rebellion Developments is currently developing “Sniper Elite III,” the latest chapter in an award-winning series that promises to take gamers to the exotic terrain of WW2’s North Africa conflict.

“AMD was an incredible technical partner to Rebellion during the development of Sniper Elite V2,” said Chris Kingsley, CTO, Rebellion. “Today we proudly renew that spirit of cooperation in an official gaming partnership that will bring full Mantle API support to bear in Sniper Elite III. Through native Mantle support in our Asura Engine, AMD Radeon™ customers will uniquely receive a level of performance that couldn’t be achieved without AMD’s visionary efforts with lower level graphics APIs.”

Square Enix is the publisher behind “Murdered: Soul Suspect™,” a supernatural thriller that challenges players to solve the most difficult case of all: their own murder.

“AMD and Square Enix have enjoyed a history of collaboration with past titles,” said Naoto Sugiyama, executive producer, “Murdered: Soul Suspect”. “That relationship remains strong as we work together on a rich assortment of optimized DirectX® 11 effects for Murdered: Soul Suspect. This comprehensive effort will ensure that all PC gamers receive the definitive experience they deserve.”

Xaviant is the developer behind “Lichdom®,” an exploration of a time known as The Sixth Age of Roth, wherein players will wield unfathomable power channeled through bracers gifted by an enigmatic patron. The title will feature support for AMD’s pioneering TressFX Hair and AMD TrueAudio technologies.

“AMD has demonstrated imagination and passion for PC audio with the development of AMD TrueAudio technology,” said Mark Muraski, Lead Sound Designer, Xaviant. “We are taking full advantage of that technology in Lichdom with the development of an uncommonly immersive audio environment. As players wield unfathomable power in the Sixth Age of Roth, AMD Radeon™ gamers with ordinary stereo headsets will experience fully positional 3D audio and acoustic environments modeled after the real world.”

Rebellion Developments, Xaviant and Square Enix will share additional details about these exciting partnerships as their respective games near public release.

Crytek has jumped on the Mantle API bandwagon, and the partnership will now lend native Mantle graphics API support to CRYENGINE. This combination will empower game developers to accelerate PC development and enhance gaming performance exclusively from AMD products with Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture.

Here is the press release announcing the Crytek/AMD technology partnership.

AMD this week announced that Crytek and AMD have entered into a technology partnership that will add native Mantle graphics API support to CRYENGINE®. CRYENGINE is the latest iteration of the industry-leading game engine that has powered Crytek gaming titles since 2004.

AMD’s Mantle API makes creating games for the PC more efficient than ever. Launched in September 2013, Mantle works by streamlining communication between a gamer’s CPU and GPU. By alleviating communication bottlenecks and making efficient use of existing PC hardware, Mantle helps improve overall game performance.

“AMD is delighted to bring Mantle support to the enormous audience of gamers and game developers reached by Crytek’s CRYENGINE,” said Ritche Corpus, director of ISV gaming and alliances, AMD. “Together, AMD and Crytek are forging a path for the graphics industry that better utilizes gamers’ advanced AMD GPUs through ‘closer-to-the-metal’ API design.”

The potent combination of Mantle and CRYENGINE empowers game developers to accelerate PC development and extract unprecedented gaming performance, exclusively from AMD products with Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture.

“Crytek prides itself on enabling CRYENGINE with the latest and most impressive rendering capabilities,” said Cevat Yerli, Founder, CEO & President of Crytek. “By integrating AMD’s new Mantle API, CRYENGINE will gain a dimension of ‘lower level’ hardware access that enables extraordinary efficiency, performance and hardware control.”

The inclusion of AMD’s Mantle API will now allow CRYENGINE licensees to ready their development studios for a future increasingly focused on the ‘closer-to-the-metal’ vision that AMD has pioneered.

When we first started talking about the Mantle API back when AMD R7/R9 series graphics cards were released, we mentioned its success would rely on game developers adopting and using the technology. It looks like AMD is beginning to make inroads, which can only be good news for those using AMD graphics cards. Stay tuned!

– Dino DeCesari (Lvcoyote)