More about Vulkan, which is far more interesting than I realized.

One of the reasons that gamers have been embracing Windows 10, rather than sticking with Windows 7 or 8, is DirectX 12. Since there's currently very little DX12-capable hardware, and even less DX12-enabled software, I hadn't given much weight to DX12 in my decision-making process, but as DX12 becomes more prevalent in gaming, especially on PC, gamers could start to feel increasingly pressured to adopt the new OS, even if they didn't want to for a variety of other reasons.

That is, unless there was a competing graphics API, which could provide similar benefits to DX12, but for platforms other than Windows 10. What if there was a successor to OpenGL that ran on Windows 7/8, and Linux and SteamOS? How game-changing would that be?

Well, it's looking like Vulkan could very well be that competing API, and I've gotta say... I'm a little excited as its potential.

For a great explanation DX12 and Vulkan, and why they can eventually be better than DX11 or OpenGL, I recommend this video:

So, how quickly could we see Vulkan adopted by graphics engine developers? 

Well... how does now suit you?

From The Tech Report:

Whether you bleed GeForce green or Radeon red, we can all agree that thepotential performance gains to be found using the lower-level DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs are significant. Crytek, creator and curator of the ever-popular CryEngine, is doing its part to further adoption of the new APIs. The folks at OC3D noticed that Crytek has updated its online roadmap for the engine. That document shows DX12 multi-GPU and Vulkan support as "on target" for upcoming releases.

Chinese-exclusive martial arts MOBA King of Wushu was the first DirectX 12-enabled CryEngine title when it debuted earlier this year, but CryEngine still doesn't support multi-GPU systems in DX12 mode. That will be changing with the projected release of CryEngine 5.4 in late February 2017. Crytek may be showing off the new feature at the next Game Developer's Conference, whichstarts February 27.

Perhaps even more exciting is the "on target" listing for Vulkan support across all platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile. That support is coming even sooner: Crytek's roadmap lists an anticipated launch window of "mid-November 2016" for version 5.3. CryEngine's greatest rival engine package, Unreal Engine 4, already has basic Vulkan support. However, Unreal limits applications using the new API to the mobile feature set of the renderer for now.

Since Vulkan is proudly cross-platform, and works with Linux (and Linux-like) environments, it can add a graphical punch to SteamOS and PS4's Orbis that's equivalent to Windows 10's DX12, which could make developing high-performance games for these platforms easier... and Valve had noticed, something which escaped my notice at the time.