‘Kynogon acquisition komplete’ says Autodesk

Autodesk’s acquisition of French Ai specialist Kynogon is now complete, the companies have announced.

The company and its Kynapse tool is now part of the Autodesk empire of tools and apps for modelling and design in a variety of big industries.

Kynapse is used to power artificial intelligence and behaviours in over 65 triple-A games including Alone in the Dark 5, Crackdown, Fable 2 and The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. The tool provides awareness enabling characters to realistically navigate digital environments.

Kynapse is also used in the simulation industries.

As we previously revealed, the acquisition doesn’t just give Autodesk a new tool to sit alongside 3ds Max, Maya, MotionBuilder and Mudbox – the purchase of Kynogon paves the way for Autodesk to start building its own middleware operation.

“The acquisition of Kynogon extends Autodesk’s leadership in game development and simulation technology. We welcome Kynogon’s customers, partners and employees to Autodesk,” said Marc Petit, Autodesk Media & Entertainment senior vice president.

“The future of video games is about more believable characters and environments. Due to the increasing complexity of video games, developers are adopting commercial middleware solutions such as Kynapse and Autodesk HumanIK to improve game play and to stay on time and on budget.”