Update 1: DICE's technical director on the Frostbite Engine, Johan Andersson, has confirmed that Star Wars Battlefront uses DX12 since the game's launch on the Xbox One, back in November last year.
@LeandroParrill1 yes Star Wars Battlefront on XB1 uses DX12 on XB1 ever since launch
— Johan Andersson (@repi) March 17, 2016
Original story: Star Wars Battlefront from EA DICE is the first Xbox One title to use Microsoft's newest graphics API, DirectX 12 (DX12).
During the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft's principal group program manager, Jason Ronald, held a programming session on the future of game development on Windows. During the session, Ronald talked about how Microsoft is delivering their vision on game development on Xbox and Windows.
He also gave an overview of a "host of new platform innovations for games in every genre".
Website Dualshockers attended the session, and provided some interesting details regarding DirectX12 (DX12). Ronald talked about the new API and that it will offer performance gains for both CPU's, and GPU's. Furthermore, thanks to a healthy partnership with Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA, Microsoft wants to make significant improvements in PC DX12 drivers.
Interestingly enough, Ronald also mentioned that Star Wars Battlefront from developer EA DICE, is in fact the first DX12 title on Xbox One. Please note that during the presentation, the present tense was used. This implies that Battlefront is already using DX12 on Xbox One. This is a bit confusing though, as Microsoft has always stated that the now cancelled Fable Legends, would be the first DX12 title for their console.
We know that DICE's Frostbite 3 engine already supports DX12. What we didn't know that Battlefront on the Xbox One is already using it. Whether this also applies to the PC version of Battlefront is uncertain. Since the engine already supports Microsoft's new API, a future patch might well make it possible on PC as well.
On PC, the recently released Gears of War Ultimate Edition is first fully released DX12 title. Hitman also supports DX12, and through a recent update, Rise of the Tomb Raider now also supports DX12. Furthermore, an upcoming DX12 patch for Just Cause 3 will enable support for the new API as well.
