Havok goes free on PC

Havok has announced that, starting from May 2008, its Havok Complete for the PC will be available free of charge.

Complete consists of the firm’s well-established Havok Physics and Havok Animation tools.

The move "seeks to propel innovative game development" by making technology found in over 200 games available to a wider userbase, specifically" independent developers, academic institutions and enthusiasts in the PC space".

“Havok has an excellent revenue base generated by sales of our three products across multiple platforms and into multiple industries,” commented David O’Meara, MD at Havok.

“This enables us to make an industry-changing move and opens up a much broader market for products such as Havok Behavior – and our new products Havok Cloth and Havok Destruction – that really come alive when adopted on top of our core platform, Havok Complete.”

The deal has been arranged with new Havok owner Intel – the agreement means approved game developers on the PC platform can execute a commercial distribution license with Havok for free.

Havok added that its overall focus is still cross-platform, with its tools for consoles only available commercially, and that the offer is only applicable to PC games.