Havok and Microsoft buying them out, my thoughts on the issue

So Microsoft just announced they have bought the rights/company Havok for those who do not know what is Havok I shall tell you. Havok is a tool for 3D physics engines, animations suite, and destructible environments. It has other uses in Modelling and the like but is best known to most of us being used in Video Games. Microsoft also paid a pretty penny for it, $500 or so Million USD's, that's right just over half a billion  $$$$USD they paid. It has a long and proud past. Games even 10+ yrs old have used the HAVOK tool chest to make some of the most beloved games.

 Halo has Havok in it, as have many, many other back to the PS2 era even featured it's logo in the opening credits. Call of Duty, Destiny, Assasins Creed to name a few all use assets from what Intel created and called Havok. Impressive pedigree to say the least, and the list goes on even back to the Gamecube era.
 So why the uproar that Microsoft bought the entity from Intel, I for one can not figure out why other then some people just hate the free market and or Microsoft I get it.. While it seems Microsoft is taking the brunt of this hate because " Now they will hog it, and no games can use it except Xbox games. " That is the most ridiculous shite I have ever read next to Minecraft is dead.

 A little basic logic people if you please, nobody and I mean no matter how rich spends 1/2 a Billion dollars on something just to not make money of it. In the case of Minecraft Microsoft paid a Billion plus to acquire it and the same diatribe went around back then. You don't pay a Billion USD's plus for a property just to not be able to make money off it, it is poor business and if there's one thing Microsoft understands is Business. 
 Consumer privacy and rights that's another topic but they know the market very well thank you. I would go so far as to say giving customers what they ask for is not a strong suit of theirs, unless dragged Kicking and Screaming. When it comes to dollars and making a return on their investment they do that extremely well, exactly as they should they are a business for F's sake.

 Do I see the logic behind the purchase somewhat it is a widely used Physics engine in a ton of popular games. Minecraft I totally understood it is a license to print money, just search facebook or youtube, etc and use the term Minecraft you will be drowned. There is over a 100,000,00 pages, channels etc dedicated to it on Youtube alone some with millions of pageviews, I can see why they bought it I had the dollars I would have too, it is a no lose purchase. 

 Now is Havok the only option to Sony, Nintendo, small Indie developers.... hell no, or whoever is buggered, not it is not there is an alternative in Nvidia's PhysX, I am sure there is others I just know PhysX. So for Microsoft to be buttheads with their ownership of Havok is not in their best interest, it would be shooting themselves in the foot. Much like with their acquisition of Mojang and the Minecraft IP, this purchase also will not dictate Microsoft only devices, they have said as much themselves.

 This is why I think the vitriol on twitter, and reddit etc is just baseless bullcrap, written by people who just hate X whatever X maybe, you can fill in the X for yourselves. You do not spend in the past year ( it ain't over yet ) $1.5+ Billion USD' making acquisitions to lock it off from the rest of the industry, it's just bad management and fiscal planning to do it.

So just stifle your ranting and raving, most of all save the rest of us having to read your vitriol and look at the big picture and think before you type, HAVOK is going nowhere it will be used by all.


As always I will sign-off saying Be nice to each other

David

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