Microsoft is now the new owner of Dublin-based Havok Inc, a producer of middleware software for game developers and special effects studios that was previously owned by Intel Corp. Microsoft and Havok announced the acquisition in a joint statement today, which promised that Havok’s technology would still be licensed out to third parties.

“As we welcome Havok to the Microsoft family, we will continue to work with developers to create great games experiences, and continue to license Havok’s development tools to third party partners,” Microsoft said in the statement. “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.”

Microsoft likely felt the need to reassure developers that it would continue to license Havok’s software since it is often used in games that are released for competing platforms, including Sony Corp’s PlayStation 4 console. There is currently no indication yet on what exactly Microsoft’s fees will be for third-party developers.

Havok’s products include software that handles computer generated physics, which is what the company is best known for in gaming, as well as handling animations, destructible environments, cloth effects, and more. Hundreds of games have used Havok’s software, including major titles like Half-Life 2, Dark Souls, and more recently Destiny.

“Havok is a fantastic technology supplier in the games industry and the leading real time physics creator. We saw an opportunity to partner together to deliver great experiences for our fans,” Microsoft said in its statement. “… Microsoft’s acquisition of Havok continues our tradition of empowering developers by providing them with the tools to unleash their creativity to the world. We will continue to innovate for the benefit of development partners. Part of this innovation will include building the most complete cloud service, which we’ve just started to show through games like Crackdown 3.”

Photo by Robert Scoble