Cyberpunk 2077 only supports Windows 7 and Windows 10

In an interview with PCGamesHardware, Marcin Gollent, Lead Graphics Programmer at CD Projekt RED, revealed some interesting new tech details about Cyberpunk 2077. According to the developer, Cyberpunk 2077 will only support the DirectX 12 API. Also, it will only work on Windows 7 and Windows 10.

When asked about the PC operating system that provides Cyberpunk 2077, Gollent said:

Thanks to the introduction of DX12 support for Windows 7 SP1 that Microsoft introduced last year, the game will run on this system. We did, and will continue to, test Cyberpunk 2077 on Windows 7 in an effort to fix any edge cases that may arise. Unfortunately, Windows 8 does not accept the DX12 library variant.

So yes, those who are still using Windows 8 will not be able to play the game. This is important to note because there will be no DX11 fallback APIs.

Gollent also shared some details about the DX12 Ultimate. As the developer claims, this game will work with any DX12 GPU. However, those who support the DX12 Ultimate’s additional features may get some additional upgrades.

Regarding DX12 Ultimate, Cyberpunk 2077 will perform very well with any DX12 compatible GPU. What the “Ultimate” feature does is allow us to do more when the hardware allows it. We chose to use DX12 for two main reasons. Firstly, it is the standard API for the Xbox platform. With the game also coming to Xbox One, we naturally wanted to implement it as soon as possible. Second, it’s the birthplace of DXR, and considering we had plans to invest in DXR from the start, that makes the choice to go with the DX12 very easy.​

Unfortunately, Gollent hasn’t stated whether Cyberpunk 2077 will support DX12 Ultimate features. As such, we don’t know if the game will support Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders, or Sampler Feedback.

However, we can assume that Cyberpunk 2077 will support DXR 1.1. As we have reported, CD Projekt RED will use Ray Tracing for Diffuse Illumination, Ambient Occlusion, Reflections and Shadows. You can see some RTX screenshots here and here.

Cyberpunk 2077 Release on November 19th!