Microsoft does not support targetting older verions as that would really just be a pain. VS2012 ships with entirely different headers targetting an entirely different runtime. While the compatibility problems are generally a bit more involved and subtle, the end result is still the same: code compiled with VS2005 will have header from VS2005 which only describe how the VS2005 runtime works. If these C functions were included in two different versions of the runtimes, they've both be symbol _foo but the code compiled to use one would clearly not work for the other. Consider exhibit A: void foo(char* name, int length) Īnd now consider exhibit B: void foo(int length, char* name) Interfaces are defined by header files, which are really just a fancy way to do cut-n-paste. Part of this is because of how C and C++ work. In terms of the runtimes used by the compilers, these must match exactly with the compiler in use. Which next version of VS becomes popular for games will depend largely on which compiler the XBox One recommends for the release versions of its devkits (2012 is used for the beta devkits used for launch games, but 2013 might be recommended down the road for post-launch titles). It's silly to buy and install two versions of the IDE/compiler if you need one in particular for XBox compatibility. Home users and hobbiest can more easily justify upgrades and enthusiasts often clamor for them, but businesses typically want as little change as possible.Īnother factor today is XBox 360 compatibility. See for instance how rapid the common enthusiast-oriented Linux distro updates versions compared to the release cadence of Redhat Enterprise or Ubuntu LTS. It's quite possible that uptake of 2012 will never happen en masse and that the next popular version of Visual Studio will be 2013 or 2014. While Visual Studio 2005 usage is pretty rare for games today, 2008 is still pretty common.

Most corporate entities are very, very conservative about updating any piece of software, be it Visual Studio, Office, Windows, Perforce, whatever.

I admit it annoys me at times I really would like the newest C++11/14 support, AMP support, and improved optimizations, but that kind of 'upgrade to the new shiny' mentality doesn't mesh well with larger, more serious projects. We already paid for 2010 and know 2010 will work for our needs though. Using a newer version would mean buying new licenses to the IDE, possibility buying new licenses to plugins we use, and of course risking some show-stopping bugs that haven't been worked out. We're using 2010SP1 for instance on a project not planning to ship for several years.

How to older versions of visual studio