A minor detail, but the very first version of Direct3D was a retained mode API.
In 1995 Microsoft acquired a company called RenderMorphics and turned their Reality Lab [1] API into "Direct3D". The first two versions to ship from Microsoft had both retained and immediate mode APIs, but they dropped the RenderMorphics-based API due to lack of adoption.
In 1995 Microsoft acquired a company called RenderMorphics and turned their Reality Lab [1] API into "Direct3D". The first two versions to ship from Microsoft had both retained and immediate mode APIs, but they dropped the RenderMorphics-based API due to lack of adoption.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Lab