Microsoft announced today its acquisitions of Havok, the company that makes the 3D physics tools for games like Halo, Assassins Creed, and Call of Duty. Havok was previously an Intel property, and the new acquisition will add significantly to Microsoft’s in-house game development tools.
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.
Havok makes a number of middleware solutions that address the things that make today’s games more realistic and compelling. Physics, AI, destructible assets, and a variety of other advanced capabilities will provide game developers with some serious tools as part of Microsoft’s development platform.
Havok’s technology supports a broad range of platforms including Windows, Xbox, Playstation, Android, iOS, Mac, and Linux. With that being said, we’ll have to keep an eye out for how Microsoft continues cross-platform support, when it comes to gaming.
