Only Two Percent of Gamers Have a DX10 Graphics Card

Rather surprising news from the gaming world: Only one in 50 players who use the Steam gaming download service (a popular way of distributing the latest games and representative of the highest-end gamers out there) have a DirectX 10-compatible graphics card.

DirectX 10 is Microsoft's latest version of its graphics subsystem for Windows, but it requires a new video card to run, plus Windows Vista: Microsoft says DX10 won't be released for Windows XP.

That's terrible news for game developers, who are on the verge of releasing some striking new titles, like Crysis and Spore, as few players will likely be able to see the games in anything approaching their full glory. Valve Software president Gabe Newell has called Microsoft out for the Vista-only approach, a rather blatant attempt to strongarm consumers into upgrading their OS. While Valve's own Half-Life 2 Orange Box uses some DirectX 10 features, players literally won't notice any difference if they stick with XP and DX9.

What's this likely to mean going forward? There's probably no rush to upgrade to DX10 hardware, as developers are unlikely to be implementing many DX10 features on their titles in coming months. Given the stability and history of the XP/DX9 platform, I expect games will actually run more smoothly on the older hardware, especially considering the serious driver development problems graphics companies have experienced getting hardware to work with Vista to date. Sure, if you're buying a new graphics card, get a DX10-capable model, but it looks like there's no reason to rush to upgrade. 

LINK: Gabe Newell: DirectX 10 for Vista was a mistake