What modern AAA games on the top of the market used OpenGL? If applicable, what engine did they use?
6 Answers
Any 3D game that runs at least on a platform different from microsoft, nintendo and sony uses OpenGL.
This includes any game that runs on Linux, Android, Mac Os X, iPhone/iPad, Symbian and probably more.
AAA games usually have got an engine written ad-hoc for the game (or for a little set of games). The ones I know the better are ID Tech engines (from 2 up to 5) and Unreal Engine (from 1 up to 4).
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3\$\begingroup\$ This isn't necessarily true from the programming end. Most EA titles ported to the Mac are done at the binary level (transgaming.com/business/cider), although they are using OpenGL when actually running on the Mac. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 7, 2011 at 17:42
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\$\begingroup\$ Apple has deprecated openGL now \$\endgroup\$– user147274Jul 16, 2021 at 8:11
Not complete, but very long list at Wikipedia.
All Id Software engines uses OpenGl for graphics rendering since Quake 1.
Ogre3D can use Direct3D or OpenGl (although is not an engine used in AAA titles AFAIK)
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\$\begingroup\$ if the indie market has its own AAA games, we could say Torchlight is AAA. Unfortunately... \$\endgroup\$– jokoonJan 10, 2011 at 11:51
I don't know about the exact ratio but I think about 50% (or even more) of all AAA titles run on OpenGL. Just the console games (without X-Box) make up for a lot of games.
Or take Blizzard as an example (Starcraft2, WoW, Diablo3). All of their games run on both PC and Mac and therefore use OpenGL too. AFAIK Blizzard uses custom developed engines for their games.
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8\$\begingroup\$ PS3 and Wii don't use OpenGL for AAA titles. There are other libraries with much more direct access to the HW. \$\endgroup\$ Nov 15, 2010 at 0:05
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\$\begingroup\$ According to wikipedia, in Starcraft II Blizzard used Direct3D for windows and OpenGL for mac - reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… \$\endgroup\$– egarciaJan 7, 2011 at 15:35
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\$\begingroup\$ @egarcia True, I never claimed that Starcraft 2 uses OpenGL on windows. Just mentioned Starcraft 2 as an example of an AAA Game that runs on OpenGL (because there is a Mac version of the game) \$\endgroup\$– bummzackJan 7, 2011 at 16:15
Nintendo and Sony provide Opengl like libraries but AAA titles tend to not use it and go for the platform's lower level libraries. Id tends to use opengl. Though they have said their system is abstract enough that to switch between the two is trivial. Valve licensed id's stuff for the original halflife but built their own stuff on DX for Source so either they ported to Opengl or they licensed transgaming's Cider(that is how EA does its duel relases) to tell you the truth I haven't heard either way. Really there is no way to tell who uses what without working there or big articles about it.
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1\$\begingroup\$ It's pretty easy to tell who uses what on the PC. On consoles it's a bit trickier - a lot of the smaller games do use the OpenGL ES variants available. \$\endgroup\$– user744Nov 15, 2010 at 12:41
PC games by Starbreeze uses OpenGL. The Chronicles of Riddick and Enclave.