GamesMarkt

Business

**GamesMarkt: Up until Unity’s runtime fee debacle, the media had been relatively quiet on the subject of engines. How did you experience that moment when the topic of engines suddenly became the focus of the entire industry, and what has changed for you as a result?** 
**David Coghan:** It’s important to clarify that Havok isn’t a general game engine in the same way that you would view Unity, Unreal or Godot. Havok provides physics and navigation middleware used with these game engines rather than being a game engine itself, so while this didn’t impact us directly, we are seeing the effects reflected in the engines used by Havok users.

**Havok itself has also been very reserved. What have you been working on, and why is it important for you to communicate more with the outside world now?** 
Havok's core market includes some of the largest franchises and titles in the industry, such as Call of Duty, Astro Bot, Spider-Man, and Elden Ring. Our long-standing relationships with these studios have meant we’ve not needed to raise our media profile so much in recent years. However, we’re becoming more vocal this year for several important reasons. We wanted to celebrate our 25th anniversary by highlighting some of the incredible developments we’ve seen in the games we’ve worked on. We also wanted to discuss how our partners use other products, such as Cloth and Navigation, beyond the core of physics for which we’re best known. Finally, we’ve unveiled a new pricing model that makes Havok more accessible to smaller and mid-sized studios. This means smaller studios will now have access to the same tools as these larger AAA studios, so the Havok features used by leading game-of-the-year candidates are now also available to smaller professional studios.

**How do you generally assess developments in the indie studio sector, and what measures are you taking to make your engine more attractive to indie studios?** 
It’s beneficial for the games industry to witness a wide range of development, from small indie studios with just one person to large, ambitious AAA titles. There have been some really innovative hits from smaller studios in the last few years. Many studios adopt Havok’s technology to enhance their game engines, improve performance, pursue innovative gameplay, or create sophisticated NPCs that can navigate complex environments and challenge players. Our new pricing aims to make Havok much more accessible to smaller-budget professional titles with skilled staff to see the real benefits.

**Do you see open-source engines as serious competition? If so, how do you respond to them?** 
Game development is a complex process that presents many technical challenges. Open-source contributions address some of these issues. However, most professional developers prefer to use commercially developed solutions for critical systems like physics and NPC navigation, which are essential to gameplay. Havok's continual innovation and top-notch Developer Relations team are major reasons why many of the world's most successful franchises choose Havok as their partner.

**How do you respond to the fact that some titles, like Minecraft, Fortnite, or Roblox, have evolved into platforms where user-generated content is created—sometimes semi- professionally, sometimes professionally—without the need for external tools?** 
User-generated content presents a significant opportunity for us as a provider of physics middleware. Unlike professional teams that create 3D content or large quality assurance (QA) teams, UGC often comes with raw content that may have imperfections. For example, kit-bashed levels might feature intersecting meshes or missing triangles. These imperfect geometries are challenging for most physics engines, often resulting in glitchy user behaviour. Havok has dedicated years to developing ways to be exceptionally tolerant of such edge cases and exposes a rich set of tools for developers to deal with UGC at runtime. This allows the community to experiment while we effectively manage the underlying complexities behind the scenes.

> "Our new pricing aims to make Havok much more accessible to smaller-budget professional titles with skilled staff to see the real benefits"

**How do you assess the impact that generative AI will have on game development?** 
Generative AI is rapidly evolving, and we closely monitor its developments, like many others in the field. It’s expected to significantly impact various areas; however, it’s still in its early stages, and we’re currently assessing how to best support our partners in utilising AI in ways that benefit them.

**How does the current economic situation of the games industry affect your business development?** 
Over the past 25 years, Havok has experienced several industry contractions and growth cycles. Fortunately, we've managed to maintain our position as the trusted middleware partner for the industry's most prominent franchises by continuously evolving. It’s essential to stay agile and adapt to industry changes. Our new pricing tier allows a whole new group of developers, who previously may not have had the opportunity to use our technology, to access our tools. This brings significant opportunities for growth.


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###### David Coghlan...
... is General Manager of Havok. He currently holds also the position of a Vice President at Microsoft, which acquired Havok from Intel in 2015. Coghlan worked for Havok for many years prior to the acquisition by Microsoft. After holding various senior management positions, he was appointed CEO of the company in 2010 when it was acquired by Intel.


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How Its Anniversary and a New Pricing Bring Havok Back to Public