AMD releases statement about new game support for older Radeon GPUs

AMD has put out a new statement clearing up confusion around legacy Radeon GPUs no longer receiving day-one support for new games.

AMD releases statement about new game support for older Radeon GPUs
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Tech and Science Editor
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TL;DR: AMD confirms continued day-one game optimization and support for all Radeon GPUs, including RDNA 1 & 2 (RX 5000/6000) and RDNA 3 & 4 (RX 7000/9000) series. Separate driver branches ensure stability and faster feature updates, maintaining performance, security, and reliability for every Radeon gamer.

AMD has put out a statement regarding game optimizations being delivered to owners of older Radeon GPUs, with the company putting out a new blog post titled "Continued Support for Every Radeon Gamer".

AMD releases statement about new game support for older Radeon GPUs 32123213

Team Red addressed some confusion that erupted after it released the Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2 driver, which it said alongside the release of the driver that GPUs using older RDNA architectures such as RDNA 3 and RDNA 4 would be entering "maintenance mode". That message resulted in many owners of these GPUs believing they would stop receiving day-one game optimization support and merely receive critical firmware and other necessary updates. However, that isn't the case.

AMD explains that it has broken up its architectures into two separate branches, RDNA 1 & 2, and RDNA 3 & 4. This structure enables the company to roll out continued support for all Radeon owners, which includes day-one game optimizations. More specifically, AMD adds that it will still be providing day-one game support for RDNA 1 & 2 GPU owners, which includes the Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series, and its RDNA 3 & 4 owners, which is the Radeon RX 7000 and RX 9000 series GPUs.

We've heard your feedback and want to clear up the confusion around the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2 driver release.

AMD Statement

This update introduces two optimized driver paths: one for RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 (Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series), and one for RDNA 3 and RDNA 4 (Radeon RX 7000 and RX 9000 series).

Here's What this Means for You:

This is not the end of support for RDNA 1 and RDNA 2. Your Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series GPUs will continue to receive:

Game support for new releases Stability and game optimizations Security and bug fixes The difference is that these products now benefit from a dedicated, stable driver branch, one built on years of tuning and optimization. This approach helps deliver a smoother, more consistent experience for your games while insulating previous generation GPUs from rapid changes designed for newer architectures.

Why We're Doing This:

Our goal is simple: to give every Radeon gamer the best experience possible. By separating the code paths, our engineers can move faster with new features for RDNA 3 and RDNA 4, while keeping RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 stable and optimized for current and future games.

Our Commitment:

We've supported Radeon gamers for generations and that commitment isn't changing. Whether you're gaming on an RX 5000, RX 6000, or the latest RX 9000, you'll continue to get the reliability, performance, and care you expect from AMD. Because we're all part of the same gaming community and every Radeon gamer matters.