Microsoft has acquired Havok

First, here's the announcement from Microsoft.

Today, we are proud to announce that Microsoft has acquired Havok, the leading provider of 3D physics, from Intel.

As we welcome Havok to the Microsoft family, we will continue to work with developers to create great gaming experiences, and continue to license Havok’s development tools to partners. We believe that Havok is a fantastic addition to Microsoft’s existing tools and platform components for developers, including DirectX 12, Visual Studio and Microsoft Azure.

Havok is an amazing technology supplier in the games industry and the leading real-time physics creator. We saw an opportunity to acquire Havok to deliver great experiences for our fans. Throughout the company’s history, they’ve partnered with Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and many others to create more than 600 games including Halo, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, Destiny, Dark Souls and The Elder Scrolls.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Havok continues our tradition of empowering developers by providing them with the tools to unleash their creativity to the world. We will continue to innovate for the benefit of development partners. Part of this innovation will include building the most complete cloud service, which we’ve just started to show through games like “Crackdown 3.”

Havok shares Microsoft’s vision for empowering people to create worlds and experiences that have never been seen before, and we look forward to sharing more of this vision in the near future.

This move seems very unexpected, at least to me, and I don't really know how to feel about right now. Mentioning Crackdown 3 gives me the sense that maybe Microsoft and Havok were on the verge of developing some truly interesting use for cloud computing in physics, and that's what made Microsoft pull the trigger to acquire them before someone else gets to use the technology.

@isomeri: Bink video is next! We are all doomed!

@nachobandit: nah man , RAD tools are next.

More seriously. What does that mean for engines that uses Havok? Will it be Xbox One exclusive tech?

@edgaras1103: ye, if this means Havok is going Xbox exclusive, isn't that a bad deal for them? Won't that just lead to 3rd parties not using it anymore, and it'll only be used for xbox exclusive titles ?

Wow that Crackdown 3 demo is impressive!!

Probably won't change much though. MS will still license it out to 3rd parties, no way they keep this tech for exclusives only.

I very very very highly doubt they will make it platform exclusive. Microsoft have a good (recent) record of acquiring things like Minecraft, that mail app that became Outlook (Acompli! remembered it), Sunrise, Wunderlist and keeping them on android and ios. Heck Office is better on Android and ios than it is on WP. They seem a lot more interested in making cloud based services across all platforms than trying to lock anything in these days.

It just means you're paying someone else for it.

Wow. Microsoft is spending a lot of money this gen. Maybe acquiring Havok is to counter how they have to pay for Blu Ray usage. Maybe it counters that somehow in their massive budget.

ONLY ON XBOX:

Halo

Forza Motorsport

Gears of War

Physics

People were talking about this weren't they? Or did I mix up my rumours?

Anyways I don't really see this changing our lives in any meaningful way from what we've learned so far. MS is not going to lockdown Havok, that's bizarre and 3rd parties would hate them. Like, just imagine the look on Yves Guillemot's face: "excuse moi?" That said, maybe they can use the talent, know-how and tools of Havok to make something new for themselves internally.

I wouldn't be surprised if they wouldn't sell havok if you aren't going to put your game on windows or XBone, so long as it is on either platform you get it.

I don't KNOW they are going to do that, but I could see it as a way to guarantee devs building cross platform stuff that goes on at least one of the ones they control.

Hopefully MSFT will make use of their talents. We did absolutely nothing with them.

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/10/02/microsoft-buys-havok-from-intel

Havok will not be limited to Microsoft exclusively. “We will continue to license Havok’s technology to the broad AAA games industry," a representative told IGN. "This also means that we will continue to license Havok’s technology to run across various game consoles including Sony and Nintendo.”

I think this puts MS into a very interesting position. It allows them to make money on the licensing and try to get a leg up on their competition, but it then also sort-of makes them have a vested interest in having strong, healthy competition in the console/video game market so that the licensing market stays strong. Either way, it's likely this is a very good acquisition for them.

Won't this just open up the door for other physics developers to become more competitive, when especially Sony and Nintendo will try to avoid Havok?

"Buy Havok and let slip the Gears of War!"

This news once again brings up the question 'why is Euphoria Engine not in every game ever?'

dark souls 3 ragdoll physics xbox exclusive :( j/k

The multiplayer demo video you linked to for Crackdown 3 with the clouding computing for its physics seemed pretty crazy, as far as the idea seemed to be that they were doing the physics remotely. It is really impressive how destructible it was. I think that is going to be part of where they are going with this with how they specifically call out Crackdown 3. It would be something they could offer on the Xbox to developers for online games.

<applauds>

Dark Souls 3 suddenly Xbox One exclusive?...that would be odd

Microsoft does have this knack for picking up the "second rate" and "dying things".

MS's acquisitions have been pretty on point lately. In the past year alone MS have acquired 19 companies/businesses which is more than the past 3 years combined. I guess MS aren't going to sit idly by and let Google, Apple and Facebook acquire every other company first any more.

I know havok is used well in many games but I cannot disconnect it from Demon's Souls which proudly displays the logo on start up and then features the most amazingly halfbaked ragdoll I have encountered.

Don't worry Sony will 1up them, by acquiring speed tree.

That is some next level shit right there. A+

I had to look up if Nintendo has ever even used Havok in their games, and all I could find is Game & Wario and Super Smash Bros Brawl, both of which used the physics engine for minigames (Fronks and the Coin Launcher). I don't think they're particularly concerned about the whole thing.