Havok

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Havok is a company that licenses the physics middleware used in Source games. The original engine licensed by Valve, Ipion Virtual Physics (IVP), was acquired by Havok in 2000 with the original hefty license fees intact. It is now a legacy product superseded by Havok's in-house middleware suite. Havok was acquired by  Microsoft in 2015.

Licensing

IVP was initially licensed for an estimated $50,000-$60,000 per title. The licensing cost for third-party Source games formerly was $25,000 per title, and only applies to commercial games and/or mods.^[1]

As of 2021, the licensing cost for use with Valve engines has been waived in an agreement between Valve and Microsoft (the parent company of Havok). The license is now free.^[1]

Rubikon, the Source 2 physics engine, was built in part to replace the Havok middleware and reduce licensing costs.^[2][3]

External links

• Website
• About Havok Physics

References

References

1. Distributing Source Engine Games / Mods. Steamworks Documentation. Archived from the original in January 13, 2025. Q. Do I have to buy a Havok license? A. In the past it was necessary for commercial mods based on the Source Engine to purchase a separate license to the Havok physics engine, but that is no longer the case as Microsoft has generously waived their licensing fee. For non-commercial mods this was never necessary. However, if you are using the RAD tools included with the Source SDK, you will need to contact RAD for information and cost associated with licensing Miles and/or Bink. 2.  Valve's Physics for Game Programmers - GDC 2014. Archived from the original in January 8, 2025. 3. Sergiy Migdalskiy Debugging Techniques - GDC 2014. Archived from the original in January 8, 2025.