Havok (company)

Telekinesys Research Limited

Trade name	Havok Group
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Software
Founded	9 July 1998; 26 years ago (1998-07-09)
Founders	Hugh Reynolds Steven Collins
Headquarters	Dublin , Ireland
Number of locations	4 (2024)
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	David Coghlan (general manager) Andrew Bond (VP of technology) Dave Gargan (VP of engineering)
Products	Havok Vision
Owner	Intel (2007–2015) Microsoft (2015–present)
Parent	Microsoft Research (2015–present)
Subsidiaries	Trinigy (defunct)
Website	havok.com

Telekinesys Research Limited (TR), doing business as Havok Group,^[1] is an Irish software company founded on 9 July 1998^[2] by Hugh Reynolds and Steven Collins, based in Dublin, Ireland,^[3] and owned by Microsoft's Ireland Research subsidiary.^[2] They have partnerships with Activision, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, Xbox Game Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft.

Its cross-platform technology is available for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Wii, Wii U, GameCube, Nintendo Switch, MacOS, IOS and PCs. Havok's technology has been used in more than 150 game titles, including World of Tanks, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Dark Souls, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Age of Empires III, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Starfield (video game), The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the Assassin's Creed series, the Call of Duty series, and Final Fantasy XVI . Havok products have also been used to drive special effects in movies such as Poseidon, The Matrix, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Havok provides the dynamics driving for Autodesk 3ds Max.

Intel announced the acquisition of Havok in a press release on 14 September 2007.^[4] On 2 October 2015, Intel sold Havok to Microsoft for an undisclosed amount.^[5]

History and awards

History

Havok was founded in 1998 by Hugh Reynolds and Steven Collins of the computer science department in Trinity College, Dublin. Research and development is carried out in offices in Dublin, San Francisco and Tokyo.

Technology

• Havok (software)
• Vision (game engine)

Awards

• US National Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences Award, 2008 - (Technical Emmy^[6])
• Red Herring 100 - 2006 Winner
• Best Choice of Computex - 2006 Winner
• OnHollywood - 2006 Winner
• Develop Industry Excellence Awards^[7] - 2006 Nominee - Best Tools Provider, 2005 Winner - Best Tools Provider, 2004 Nominee - Best Tools Provider
• Game Developer Frontline Award^[8] - 2006 Finalist - Middleware, 2003 Winner - Best Game Component, 2002 Winner - Best Game Component
• FileFront - "Most Advanced Technology" of 2004
• Computer Graphics World - CGW 2003 Innovation Award

See also

• Havok (software)

References

1. "Legal information about Havok". Havok. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
2. "Havok Group information about foundation and ownership by Microsoft". Global Database. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
3. "Students surprised to find top computer games are made on their doorstep". The Irish Times. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
4. "Intel To Acquire Havok". Intel Corporation. 14 September 2007. Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2007.
5. Foley, Mary Jo (2 October 2015). "Microsoft acquires Havok from Intel, Microsoft has acquired game-technology vendor Havok from Intel for an undisclosed amount". ZDNet.
6. "The Emmy Awards". Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
7. "Develop Industry Excellence Awards 2008". Archived from the original on 22 July 2012.
8. "Game Developer—Front Line Awards". Archived from the original on 3 May 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2006.

External links

• Havok Company Site
• Titles using Havok Engine