Eric Engstrom may not be a household name, but it is likely that most gamers at some point have come across his work. Engstrom is known for his collection of application programming interfaces designed to run multimedia smoothly on Microsoft platforms dating back to Windows 95. Otherwise known as DirectX. The technology is so ubiquitous, even the Xbox Series X console uses a variation of DirectX. Unfortunately, Engstrom passed away earlier this month from complications after sustaining an undisclosed injury.
DirectX was created by Engstrom, Alex St. John, and Craig Eisler who, with the support of their Windows leader Brad Silverberg, developed the program that would revolutionize gaming on Microsoft platforms. After the launch of Windows 95, it became clear that game developers had trouble working with the OS, with unstable games ruining the experience for players. In September 1995, DirectX was released, and to encourage game developers to try out the new system, Engstrom and his team approached Doom creator John Carmack to have the game ported to Windows. Doom & Doom II were re-released last year, still as popular today as they were back then.
Engstrom’s passing on December 1st at the age of 55 was an unexpected blow to the computer gaming world. While his role with Microsoft lessened as the years went on, he would move on to form his own startup, Wildseed, and continued to be involved with Microsoft on occasion. His legacy will always be his work done on DirectX, something that changed gaming on Windows forever. It has been a rough year for Microsoft, having also lost Brett Schnepf, who worked on the first Xbox and is known for coining the nickname of the first Xbox controller, which he named “Duke” after his son.
So far, 2020 has been a year filled with many surprising and even disappointing moments. AAA games not delivering and leaving a bad taste in gamers’ mouths, the whole pandemic, and even the co-creator of the PC mouse fell victim. William English was a pioneer on a number of pieces of technology, none more influential than the PC mouse, first conceived in 1968.
Eric Engstrom’s work on DirectX changed the fortunes of Microsoft, as the company had no luck convincing game developers to work with their Windows OS prior to DirectX. His efforts would propel development of the Xbox, and now, DirectX 12 will bring ray tracing to Far Cry 6 , WoW: Shadowlands, and more. Proof that his legacy will live on.
Source: Engadget
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