For the first time in 10 years, Havok has posted a PR video demonstrating the features of their physical engine

Havok, the developer of the physics engine used in most modern games, has posted a video on YouTube for the first time in 10 years demonstrating new features of their main product, the Havok Physics engine. PC Gamer journalists drew attention to it.

The trailer, titled "Dynamic Destruction with Havok Physics," demonstrates the process of bridge destruction and the interaction of falling objects and small objects with each other and other objects. The video was released on the eve of the major Havok 2024.2 update, which affects all of the company's products - Havok Navigation, Havok Cloth, and Havok Physics.

Interestingly, Havok hasn't posted a new video on its YouTube channel for 10 years. Some activity in the form of panel recordings from the Game Developers Conference began in 2024, and this is the first speech video of the engine itself.

The Havok company was founded in 1998 in Ireland. The Havok SDK 1.0 physics engine was presented at the Game Developers Conference in 2000, but the real popularity of this software came after the success of Half-Life 2 in 2004. Havok Physics, Havok Navigation, and Havok Cloth are used in most modern games, and as of 2023, 12 of the top 20 grossing games used Havok software.

From 2007 to 2015, Havok was owned by Intel. In 2015, the company was acquired by Microsoft for an undisclosed sum. Havok is part of Microsoft Research, which deals with scientific problems, algorithm theory, AI, cryptography, etc.