Microsoft acquires physics studio Havok from Intel

Havok is one of the biggest names behind gaming physics and it has now fallen under the Microsoft umbrella, as the company has announced that it has picked up the company from former owners Intel.

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Microsoft is ending its week on something of a high note, acquiring one of the leading names in gaming physics engines. Havok is a name that's seen on some of the gaming's most recognized titles and franchises, associated mostly with destructible elements and ragdoll physics. Today, Microsoft announced that it has officially acquired Havok from former owner Intel.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Havok falling under the Microsoft umbrella immediately raises concerns in regards to its future across other third-parties. However, a Microsoft Blog post notes that things should be business as usual moving forward.

"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," reads the announcement post. "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."

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Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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  • reply
    October 2, 2015 9:38 AM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Microsoft acquires physics studio Havok from Intel

    • reply
      October 2, 2015 9:38 AM

      Interdasting...

    • reply
      October 2, 2015 9:40 AM

      Cool staury

    • reply
      October 2, 2015 9:50 AM

      The real question is are they going to use this as leverage to make games using Havok perform better on Xbone than on PS4? Nvidia pulled that shit when they bought PhysX.

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        October 2, 2015 11:30 AM

        No, I could see them focusing this for HoloLens. The other MS platform might get tighter integration like what was alluded to, ie. Dx12 I can see why they might want to own the tech if it's going to get directly integrated into HoloLens, especially for commercial purposes. In that regard, they'd have two channels with the tech. Commercial use and then let the consumer side run like it is today.

    • reply
      October 2, 2015 12:30 PM

      [deleted]

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        October 2, 2015 9:41 PM

        Trespasser now on HoloLens! This time it's your real arm, your real cleavage, and your real fear.

    • reply
      October 2, 2015 12:43 PM

      Any chance they'll be awesome and roll it into dx12?

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