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Microsoft buys Havok from Intel, GAFfers tear skin off while screaming about endtimes

Nzyme32

Member
If havok was so profitable why would Intel sell?

iirc Havok usage has been reducing lately in favour of other solutions like Physx. More so though Havok is likely going to be a useful foundation for Microsoft's cloud physic sim efforts, rather than going off their own solutions from scratch. Intel likely don't have as much use for it vs Microsoft.

Doesn't UE4 use physx for it's physics? I'm very curious as to how Source 2 will do of all things. Source 1's physics were based of Havok and were pretty great, but the engine was middling to use and didn't really see much adoption. Now Source 2 will use something made from scratch called Rubikon, but since Source 2 is modular, it could be adopted by any engine at no cost other than publishing on Steam along with whatever else. Remembering how great Source physics were at the time, I wonder what new stuff might show up

Love some of the intense physics tech we have seen recently for all kinds of material sim
 

AlphaDump

Gold Member
They already tell you exactly what they're doing. They're adding a cloud based physics option to their product line-up that will presumably be a service you can pay for and hosted on Azure servers.

Similarly they sell Microsoft Visual Studio to developers across the world, and even Sony built their PlayStation development toolset as a plugin for it.

They're primarily an enterprise services and software company.


I did see that. And the points you made didnt neccessarily answer my question.

Not trying to be abbrassive, i think it is a smart move by MS since this middleware solution is universally used. I see it as both an API initiative and licensing revenue combo.
 
Can I just ask, what are the implications of this acquisition for the future? Particularly regarding gaming? Will not much change?

they aren't going to hold games hostage, they are just going to reap the benefit have having a middle-ware engine that is going to be licensed out to all games that use it.

at least I hope
 

omonimo

Banned
Imagine if Microsoft released a windows patch so that all Windows OS's would stop working until all the governments in the world gave Microsoft "1 MILLION DOLLARS" to fix their computers
But seriously they could? I mean direct X are exclusive on Xbox. Just imagine if they play this card to put in struggle ps4.
 

Kayant

Member
Can I just ask, what are the implications of this acquisition for the future? Particularly regarding gaming? Will not much change?

Nothing as MS said themselves they will continue to license it out as now.
This is actually a pretty big deal, especially when you account for how shitty it's only competition, PhysX, tends to run on ATI hardware (aka the PS4).

Unless Microsoft plans to continue licensing it out to everyone, which seems unlikely.
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.
It's right in the OP... like cmon.
 

M52B28

Banned
I have a soft spot in my heart for the early days of ragdolls.
bring that back, please.
Remember the Saints Row ragdills, or even the old PsyOps ragdolls on Havok? Absolute fun to see them sling around with no weight.
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
Has Havok been used in applications that aren't gaming focused? If it's being integrated into their cloud services, I'm wondering if Havok physics could be leveraged on a wide range of applications.
 

AKJP

Banned
I think this is important for people to realize. Just like Microsoft kept Minecraft multiplatform MSFT will most certainly license this to Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft will get more money that way and theyll also save on money owning it themselves. Theyre also trying to get more out of Cloud this way it seems too.

Exactly. MS would only be shooting themselves in the foot by not letting other companies use the Havok engine.
 
Yo guys, tons of games use PhysX on consoles too. This means practically nothing for the "console war".
I like this narrative that Microsoft and Sony make all their business decisions based on the console wars.

Soldier, don't you know there's a war on?
 

jaypah

Member
Guys the console war is almost exclusively a fan/gamer construct. MS isn't going to stop licensing Havok because of said imaginary war.

Really. And the implication that this is going to change anything is laughable. These are legitimate businesses, they don't give a shit about your petty console war ramblings.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
This is actually a pretty big deal, especially when you account for how shitty it's only competition, PhysX, tends to run on ATI hardware (aka the PS4).

Unless Microsoft plans to continue licensing it out to everyone, which seems unlikely.

yeah, why would microsoft have any interest in making money
 

Nzyme32

Member
Has Havok been used in applications that aren't gaming focused? If it's being integrated into their cloud services, I'm wondering if Havok physics could be leveraged on a wide range of applications.

From Wiki:

Other software
Havok can also be found in:

  • Futuremark's 3DMark2001 and 03 benchmarking tools
  • a plug-in for Maya animation software
  • an xtra for Adobe Director's Shockwave
  • Valve Corporation's Source game engine uses VPhysics, which is a physics engine modified from Havok
Havok supplies tools (the "Havok Content Tools") for export of assets for use with all Havok products from Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, and Autodesk Softimage. Havok is also used in the virtual world Second Life, with all physics handled by its online simulator servers, rather than by the users' client computers. An upgrade to Havok version 4 was released in April 2008 and an upgrade to version 7 started June, 2010.

Recently though I think there is a move away from Havok adoption. I think UE4 uses PhysX instead
 
But seriously they could? I mean direct X are exclusive on Xbox. Just imagine if they play this card to put in struggle ps4.

You realize Xbox One's have Sony blu-ray drives right? Apple uses Samsung screens as well. Many big companies use each others technology.
 

ElRenoRaven

Member
Guys the console war is almost exclusively a fan/gamer construct. MS isn't going to stop licensing Havok because of said imaginary war.

Pretty much. I've never understood it either. Life will continue on. Games will continue using Havok. The world will still keep spinning.
 

JeffG

Member
Really. And the implication that this is going to change anything is laughable. These are legitimate businesses, they don't give a shit about your petty console war ramblings.

I am not sure what part is so surprising a) see a software company collect software solutions or b) a chip company divest themselves of a software solution.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
From Wiki:



Recently though I think there is a move away from Havok adoption. I think UE4 uses PhysX instead
It's still very popular. This is why Microsoft is buying it for their development product suite.

havoklcxxd.png


Code:
Havok congratulates the following AAA projects powered by Havok technology that are among the titles nominated by the Best of E3 2015 awards:

• Star Wars Battlefront – Electronic Arts
• Dark Souls III – BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
• Fallout 4 – Bethesda Softworks
• Halo 5: Guardians – Microsoft Studios
• Horizon: Zero Dawn – Sony Computer Entertainment
• Just Cause 3 – Square Enix
• Need for Speed – Electronic Arts
• No Man’s Sky – Hello Games
• The Division – Ubisoft
• The Last Guardian – Sony Computer Entertainment
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – Ubisoft
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Sony Computer Entertainment

http://www.havok.com/havok-congratulates-all-of-the-award-nominated-developers-at-e3-2015-many-top-titles-utilizing-havok-tech-congratulations-to-fallout-4-uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end-star-wars-battlefront-and/
 
The plugin.

The new version of Unity uses Visual studio as the IDE.

Actually, by default the new version of Unity still uses Monodevelop as the IDE. If you want to use Visual Studio you have to download and install VS and the plugin, neither are included in Unity or supported by them.

Here's the "evil Microsoft" bit: Microsoft bought the Visual Studio Unity plugin from a developer, and immediately released a patch removing all support for Javascript, though Visual Studio and Unity still support Javascript and there were no bugs with the Javascript implementation. Microsoft then made sure that the old version of the plugin that supported Javascript couldn't be downloaded anywhere. So you can only develop Unity in Visual Studio in C#, because Microsoft.
 
Thread reminds of the ridiculous arguments taking place way before next gen started that Microsoft wouldn't use blu ray discs on the Nextbox because they'd have to pay Sony.
 

JeffG

Member
Actually, by default the new version of Unity still uses Monodevelop as the IDE. If you want to use Visual Studio you have to download and install VS and the plugin, neither are included in Unity or supported by them.
.
Not for 5.2

Edit: I should say it way easier with 5.2 The installer will go and get the right version of Visual studio for you instead of doing it yourself.
 
I don't think this is a big deal. I think the industry is moving toward more proprietary physics engines anyway.

Sure, the usual suspects will use Havok to save development time, but I think more in-house physics will be used by devs.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
I don't think this is a big deal. I think the industry is moving toward more proprietary physics engines anyway.

Sure, the usual suspects will use Havok to save development time, but I think more in-house physics will be used by devs.

If you scroll up a bit, you will see that most major AAA games use Havok, including all of Sony's such as Uncharted 4, Horizon, Infamous, and The Last Guardian.
 

RdN

Member
This is a huge buy... Havok is in almost every game out there, specially AAA titles.

Having DX12 and Havok working side to side is going to bear some interesting results.
 

AKJP

Banned
I think a lot of people are forgetting that MS likes to make money (what company or person for that matter doesn't?) heck that was one of the reasons why people used the abbreviation M$ for so long....
 

Jhoan

Member
If it means that Crawdown 3 is gonna be that much better, then I'm all for MS owning them considering how almost every big game under the sun has used it.
 

jaypah

Member
I am not sure what part is so surprising a) see a software company collect software solutions or b) a chip company divest themselves of a software solution.

Nah breh, you're not thinking deep enough. If you were you'd see that Sony are the original humans from lightyears away and MS are indeed the Mole People. #stayawake
 
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