Havok acquired by Microsoft

[Junko]

Basically, Havok, known for the Havok Engine, has been purchased by Microsoft, from Intel.

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.

[Graystripe2000]

So, does this mean games that aren't published by Microsoft won't be allowed to use the Havok engine? 

Edited October 3, 2015 by Operationgamer17

[Kaze no Klonoa]

So, does this mean games that aren't published by Microsoft won't be allowed to use the Havok engine? 

From what I'm reading, that won't be the case. I guess Havok will just continue doing work as usual, regardless of developer or publisher. What this acquisition will probably show is that a lot of Havok's tech will be more integrated with Microsoft stuff and vise versa.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

So, does this mean games that aren't published by Microsoft won't be allowed to use the Havok engine? 

No, what it likely means is that it'll need to be licensed from Microsoft.

[SonicWind]

I can't say I saw this coming. Good for Microsoft, I guess.

I'm glad this isn't getting in the way of other companies (hopefully including competing companies, but part of me doubts it) being able to use the Havok physics engine.

[PSI Wind]

I can't say I saw this coming. Good for Microsoft, I guess.

I'm glad this isn't getting in the way of other companies (hopefully including competing companies, but part of me doubts it) being able to use the Havok physics engine.

You won't have to worry. As an example, Microsoft has to pay Sony for every Xbox One disc printed and sold as the X1 discs use Blu-Rays. This is really all the acquisition really means.

[Junko]

You won't have to worry. As an example, Microsoft has to pay Sony for every Xbox One disc printed and sold as the X1 discs use Blu-Rays. This is really all the acquisition really means.

Imagine if one of them bought AMD, holy shit the money.

[PSI Wind]

Imagine if one of them bought AMD, holy shit the money.

Microsoft wouldn't be allowed to buy AMD as they basically own Nvidia.

[Junko]

Microsoft wouldn't be allowed to buy AMD as they basically own Nvidia.

Basically how?

[PSI Wind]

Basically how?

While they don't own Nvidia as a company, the two have synergy with DirectX, something Microsoft does own and is kept away from AMD. If Microsoft owned AMD, they'd have complete control over the PC GPU market and its architecture.

[Willsy]

Anybody who is worried that MS will keep Havok for Xbox only; don't be. Like Minecraft and Skype, this is far too great of an acquisition to just relegate to Microsoft platforms. And as Psi said, Microsoft are paying Sony royalties for Blu-Ray, so swings and roundabouts. Microsoft would be suicidle for investing so much just to give Xbox/Win10 games an ultimately moot 'advantage' (because let's face it, developers wouldn't just make their games exclusive so they could keep using Havok, they would jump ship to a new engine). 

And just to clarify; Microsoft does not equal Xbox. Minecraft and Havok were not acquired by the Xbox division, and they fully intend on keeping both open to use by other parties including their competitors. 

Edited October 4, 2015 by The Dog