Nintendo joins Vulkan API creator Khronos Group

The Khronos Group, the organisation behind the upcoming Vulkan API, has welcomed Nintendo into the fold.

The Wii U and 3DS firm is the latest to join the not-for-profit group that manages open-standard graphics APIs, including Vulkan and its predecessor OpenGL. Nintendo’s membership was noticed on a NeoGAF post, according to GamaSutra.

Other members comprise of a mix of academic institutes, media companies and more games and technology firms, including Microsoft, Sony, Oculus and Nvidia.

Like the rest of the group, Nintendo will be able to participate in Vulkan’s development. While it has full voting rights, it doest not have a seat on the Khronos Group’s board, and therefore can take part in the new API’s final ratifcation.

Vulkan was announced as the successor to OpenGL at GDC 2015, previously known as glNext. It specialises in high-efficiency graphics and compute on modern GPUs.

Imagination Technologies has already shown off a demo (pictured), claiming it shows off high-quality physically-based shading, correct specular reflections and more.

Nintendo is currently working on its next gaming platform, codenamed the NX. Having been criticised for the limited graphical capabilities on both Wii and Wii U, it could be that the firm is gearing up to increase the power of its new hardware.