A good physics system can make or break a game. Most of Half-Life 2's puzzles were centered around its physics engine, while Mass Effect's Mako vehicle was nearly impossible to drive thanks to shoddy physics. With the added power of current-gen consoles, physics are only going to become more and more important — and Microsoft just picked up one of the biggest physics engines in the industry.
You may not know the name "Havok," but you've definitely played a Havok-powered game: the physics engine has been featured in more than 600 different games, from Mortal Kombat X to Dark Souls to Uncharted. Now, thanks to a deal with former owner Intel, Microsoft has successfully acquired Havok.
"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."
For more on Microsoft's acquisition of Havok, head on over to the official blog post.
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