At the same time, have you noticed that like 98 % of the UE3 titles prefer to use default PhysX integration ? Even the AAA games, that can easily afford Havok license - Mass Effect series, Gears of War series, Batman series, Bulletstorm, Dishonored, Mortal Kombat, etc. I remember only several UE3 games with custom Havok physics - Wheelman, StrangleHold, Golden Axe: Beast Rider.
Irrational Games in Bioshock: Infinite used custom PhysX 3 integration in UE3, despite the fact, that the team had big experience with Havok in Bioshock/Bioshock 2
When Havok released a free Havok Physics license for PC in 2009 (sponsored by Intel, Havok Animation included), why hasn’t it became popular among mid-range developers and killed PhysX, if it was so good ? (there are only few decent indie games with Havok, namely Spintires and Space/Medieval Engineers).
This bring us to an interesting dicussion, but it is completely off-topic.
Actually, nothing prevents you from using Havok with UE4 right now. Just pay $$$ for the source license, and they’ll probably integrate it by themselves.
The only middleware that gets Havok for free is their own Vision engine.
Those were using PhysX. Before Havok has bought Vision engine from Trinigy, it had strong PhysX integration, preferred by most developers.
This led to a curious situation, when Orcs Must Die 2 had both Havok and PhysX logo on their title screen
PhysX is used in many games, no question.
It is however more used in games where it is more of a gimmick (i.e. smoke, clothes etc) and where accuracy is of second importance.
Major players like Skyrim etc use Havok.
I also found this nice review: Havok is used a little less htan PhysX, but in the ‘excellent’ games department it is used much more.
That being said, if I was about to do a game where physics is a gimmick and budget is stringent, I would also use PhysX.
I really wouldn’t go around using Skyrim as the example that Havok is good. Havok is good yeah, I dont deny that, but seriously, the number of glitches in Skyrim due to physics is right up there, everything from, all items in a room dropping a bit when entering a room, to things just spontaneously exploding when you enter a room, to the famous break dancing animals, and the list goes on.
In my project, I have thousands of physics objects (on the same level as Skyrim) and I am not seeing any of the above issues using PhysX, except maybe the occasional flying object, but I actually know why that is, sloppy placement on my behalf.
Skyrim probably isn’t a very good example of a game where the ‘how it feels’ level is very high.
I’ve thought long and hard about why I don’t like the TES series (I like just about anything to do with Fantasy), and the best answer I can come up with is that every action you can take feels bad in every way I can think of.
As I see the cause: AAA games/developers are mostly oriented on console market, and Havok was always well optimized for consoles (for example, in Ageia times PhysX SDK for consoles was in pretty bad shape), so it simply seized top league without much resistance. Considering that Havok Physics is constantly evolving (with bigger development team behind it than PhysX), developing new products (Animation, AI, Script, etc), it is holding leading position in that area.
Also, AAA companies have money and resources that can be spend on better physics optimizations and bug-fixing. That also makes Havok physics look more stable and accurate in games.
At the same time, PhysX SDK has the best price/features ratio. That’s why it is preferred by middleware companies and mid-range developers. By the raw number of released commercial games (~ 550 currently) it wins over Havok.
PhysX 3 release was able not only hold current positions, but also win some new AAA integrations (Sony Online with ForgeLight engine, Square Enix with Luminous engine), however overall picture has not changed much.
I prefer the word “supporter”, as I don’t deny PhysX limitations
I’m also collecting PhysX based games (and keeping an eye on other engines) since like 2006-07, so it gives me broader view on the situation.
But enough about me, that’s completely offtopic.
