Craig HillCan The Havok Engine Become Xbox Exclusive?
August 7th 2008 07:03
An interesting development has reared its head into the exclusivity debate, with the signing of a "perpetual licensing agreement" that will make the Havok physics engines available to Microsoft Game Studios and its development partners. With such a close relationship forming, will we see Sony and Microsoft become separated with exclusivity, not between game titles, but the actual engines they use? Could it be that future titles on the 360 will have the latest physics engine and those on Sony will not?
Microsoft now have full ongoing access to all future Havok's physics animation and behaviour products, as well as the current ones such as Havok Cloth and Havok Destruction. And no, I don't know what they do either. Something to do with the direction clothing is shot away from an exploding body I guess. These, and all future additions, will automatically be made available to Microsoft and those that choose to license them. Sony, EA, Microsoft Game Studios, Ubisoft, and Activision currently have agreements with Havok, but these deals are not "perpetual" as with Microsoft. Has this left the door open for future exclusivity? It surely gives Microsoft an advantage when negotiating with developers to produce titles for their platforms.
Although at the moment there are no details as to the specifics of the deal, if there are any exclusivity clauses it could prove to be a masterstroke by Microsoft. And without a real competitor in the market it may spell troubled times ahead for Sony and their software partners.
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Comment by Anonymous
I don't think so...
Comment by Anonymous
look at this from a developers point of view. we can pay to get the havok physics then pay for another physics engine for our ps3 version or we can just pay for the 1 physics engine to use for both consoles...microsoft loose more money
Comment by Anonymous