Intel Snags Physics Tech Developer Havok

September 17, 2007 10:44 AM

Hardware manufacturer Intel will acquire physics software creator Havok for an undisclosed sum. Under the terms of the agreement, Havok will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel.

In the past, Havok has provided physics solutions for a number of games, ranging from 2K Boston/2K Australia's BioShock (PC, X360) and Evolution Studios' MotorStorm (PS3) to Valve's Half-Life 2 (PC, PS3, X360, Xbox), and movies, such as Andy & Larry Wachowski's The Matrix and Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven.

The company recently released the fifth iteration of its physics software suite, which introduced new features and allowed for greater efficiency across all supported platforms, including PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PSP.

"Havok is a proven leader in physics technology for gaming and digital content, and will become a key element of Intel's visual computing and graphics efforts," said Intel VP Renee J. James. "Havok will operate its business as usual, which will allow them to continue developing products that are offered across all platforms in the industry."

Chris Faylor

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

Filed Under

Valve

From The Chatty

Refresh Go To Thread

ChibiJosh

 reply
September 17, 2007 10:56 AM

Kind of an odd acquisition unless Intel plans to get into the physics acceleration peripheral business.
- omnova
  
   reply
  September 17, 2007 11:02 AM
  
  I would hope that's what's on their minds.
- chilln
  
   reply
  September 17, 2007 11:06 AM
  
  I thought we already decided physics peripherals were/are pointless because of multi-core cpus and soon to have multi-core gpus...
  - Begawkiness
    
     reply
    September 17, 2007 11:09 AM
    
    Same here. I hope this doesn't mean that Intel is going to try and push these cards.
    - yourGarbageMan
      
       reply
      September 17, 2007 5:44 PM
      
      I think they'll obviously be pushing multi-core, and will be probably be designing in some optimizations for physics.
  - deadlycookie
    
     reply
    September 17, 2007 1:08 PM
    
    Although I'm generally more impressed by Ageia, this is good news I suppose.
    
    I can see them adding physics acceleration to their processors.
- flasher 907
  
   reply
  September 17, 2007 11:11 AM
  
  I doubt it'll be add-on card business.
  
  I could see it leading to maybe onboard physics or more likely optimizing their cpu's for physics etc.
- Beady
  
   reply
  September 17, 2007 11:12 AM
  
  I can see them making the Core architecture optimised for this stuff before I can see them releasing extra hardware that wont sell.
- afty
  
   reply
  September 17, 2007 11:22 AM
  
  Rumor has it they want to implement Havok on their upcoming GPU (Larrabee).
  - deadlycookie
    
     reply
    September 17, 2007 1:05 PM
    
    Never heard of Larrabee. I must read into it.
- billy_zelsnack
  
   reply
  September 17, 2007 11:24 AM
  
  Havok is not even pocket change for Intel. They might seem like a large company, but they're not. I doubt they pull in even 5 million a year and they have to work their ass off to get it. However, like a lot of game related stuff,, they have the potential of impacting hardware sales. My guess is that the next version of Havok will magically no longer have gpu acceleration in their tech. If that's true I wonder if we'll be seeing an Ageia acquisition by one of the gpu kids after all. Less for the hardware and more for Novodex.
- avatar_58
  
   reply
  September 17, 2007 12:38 PM
  
  Onboard. Goodbye Ageia, you had a nice short run.
  - Pantene Pro-V
    
     reply
    September 17, 2007 3:02 PM
    
    not even...