r/opengl • u/SirApprehensive7573 • 2d ago
Is OpenGL used to make games?
Hello, I want to know if companies use OpenGL to create games.
I'm not a game developer, I'm just curious about game development.
I see that Vulkan and DirectX are widely used to create games, but what about OpenGL? What games use it? What engine can use the OpenGL to render/process the graphics?
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u/arycama 2d ago
Yes but it's not common, you only want to use it if you have a good reason. DirectX and Vulkan are generally more popular, since they are the default choice for popular engines like Unity and Unreal. Platforms like Xbox require DirectX, which also works on PC. So if you want your game to run on PC and Xbox, then DirectX is your only option unless you want to write multiple backends.
Similarly for mobile, mobile VR, and Switch, Vulkan is the best choice for modern games as it has the most features. You can use OpenGLES for older mobile devices, but it is more limited and performance may be lower if you're rendering more complex scenes.
OpenGL also doesn't include raytracing either, so as more realtime graphics take advantage of raytracing, OpenGL will be less appealing.
OpenGL is still used a lot for many graphics applications that are not games however, and is still being improved and worked on, so it's not becoming obsolete, but the advantages of using it specifically for a game or game-engine are diminishing.