A press release today revealed that Havok technology is used extensively in Halo 5: Guardians; specifically, the AI, Physics and Script modules of Havok are featured.

343 Industries worked closely with the team at Havok to integrate Havok AI to help bring to life the game characters. The Havok Physics effects are used throughout the environment to lend the title an immersive physicality that helps draw players deeper into the compelling Halo universe.

David Berger, Director of Engineering at 343 Industries, openly said that it was thanks to Havok technology that the studio was able to maintain its lofty goal of steady 60FPS in Halo 5: Guardians.

In creating Halo 5: Guardians, the team pushed the Xbox One hardware to maintain a steady 60 frames per second for lightning-quick reaction times and visceral gameplay, and Havok’s efficient toolset helped us to reach that goal. Every element of this game had to be truly epic. The graphics, sound, music, story, AI and multiplayer features were each a massive undertaking, and our collaboration with Havok gave us a robust toolset to round out the features to create something that gamers won’t forget.

Halo 5: Guardians released on October 27 exclusively for Xbox One. Priced at $/€ 59.99, the game went on to become the biggest Halo launch in history and fastest selling Xbox One exclusive to date. Microsoft disclosed that it earned more than $400 million in global sales of the game and related hardware, pushing the franchise total to over $5 billion.

Moreover, the game earned a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the most watched video game launch broadcast, with over 330K unique streams on the broadcast's evening. Havok, on the other hand, has been acquired last month by Microsoft, though it has been confirmed that its technology will still be licensed to competitors as well.