Microsoft has announced its acquisition of Havok, the studio behind games like Halo and Call of Duty.

Havok – previously owned by Intel – licenses its game development technology to many game developers around the world. This technology is known for making aspects of games look much more realistic. Havok has also powered movies like The Matrix.

"As we welcome Havok to the Microsoft family, we will continue to work with developers to create great gaming experiences, and continue to license Havok's development tools to partners," said Microsoft in a statement. "We believe that Havok is a fantastic addition to Microsoft's existing tools and platform components for developers, including DirectX 12, Visual Studio and Microsoft Azure."

There are plenty of reasons why Microsoft would want to own the technology. For example, Havok's technology powers games that run on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and even PC. Two of those systems, you might notice, are very much an interest for Microsoft. Not only that, but if the company wants to win the console wars, the acquisition of Havok could be very helpful.

Havok itself has a lot of experience. According to the official website, it has been active for 15 years and has a massive 600 titles under its belt.

As a part of the deal, Havok will be helping Microsoft build its cloud service offerings — it's however not exactly clear how it will help. Also unclear are the terms of the acquisition.

It will certainly be interesting to see what the acquisition means for Microsoft's efforts in gaming, as well as what the acquisition will mean for PlayStation developers.

Of course, the acquisition could mean more than increased competition in the console industry. Owning Havok could also put Microsoft in a very good position for whatever comes next — be it virtual reality or something else.

Via: PCWorld