Intel Acquires Offset Software

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FirewalkR

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Posted before in another thread but I think this is thread-worthy


February 20th, 2008 - Intel Acquires Offset Software

Today we have some major news to announce.

Intel has acquired Offset Software. Yes, you read it correctly!

Project Offset is going strong and we are excited about things to come.

Stay tuned.

- Sam McGrath
Click to expand...

I am somewhat baffled by the purchase and have no idea what this means. Well, congratulations to the Offset Software team, i guess. :)

Post here at Offset Software's site.

mods: i'm not sure this is the right subforum... could be in a PC related one too i guess... move this, or not, at your discretion.
 
Well, congratulations to the Offset team indeed... but an unexpected move on Intel's part for sure. Who knows, could be that the 'demo piece' nature of the Offset engine to date made them an attractive purchase... and the true purpose will be further research/refinement of their GPU efforts. Not saying it's anything that grandiose, but it is a theory. :p
 
Unexpected indeed!

What´s in it for Intel?

Offset must have something that is more important to Intel than to any game publisher. What is that?

Edit: maybe they just want to have their skills/personnel for their research efforts for future graphics technologies. Project Offset always seemed like a very techno-centric company anyways.
 
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I think this is a true statement of intent from intel.

I think its clear that the expertise from the Offset team (plus a large cash injection from intel) will give intel

1) an engine to compete with UE3 desined for the Larrabee from the ground up.
2) development for testing high level dx9/dx10 code on their system.
3) the expertise to build THE MOTHER OF all demos when launching/showing the Larrabee hardware.
4) A complete game that can ship with Larrabee that will be taylored for the hardware.

For me, this is the clearest sign yet that intel REALLY means bussiness on the GPU/games side of things. I am excited about how this will unfold.
 
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kyetech said:
I think this is a true statement of intent from intel.

I think its clear that the expertise from the Offset team (plus a large cash injection from intel) will give intel

1) an engine to compete with UE3 desined for the Larrabee from the ground up.
2) development for testing high level dx9/dx10 code on their system.
3) the expertise to build THE MOTHER OF all demos when launching/showing the Larrabee hardware.
4) A complete game that can ship with Larrabee that will be taylored for the hardware.

For me, this is the clearest sign yet that intel REALLY means bussiness on the GPU/games side of things. I am excited about how this will unfold.
Click to expand...

Exactly how I took it..
 
Wow Intel is really buying up companies for LRB now, and I don't expect this to be the last one.

Interesting direction to buy an actual full (albeit small) game studio/team, sounds like a pretty good fit for what they both are after.
 
FirewalkR said:
Posted before in another thread but I think this is thread-worthy
February 20th, 2008 - Intel Acquires Offset Software

Today we have some major news to announce.

Intel has acquired Offset Software. Yes, you read it correctly!

Project Offset is going strong and we are excited about things to come.

Stay tuned.

- Sam McGrath
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
I just happened to be watching a Zetsubou-Sensei episode prior to reading this, and couldn't help but laugh at the irony against the last segment in that episode. :LOL:

Back on topic, though, the signs were there that they were going to buy a game studio for quite some time. I first got that impression a few months ago given the rhetoric they used when giving their Larrabee presentation here at Crystal (thank god they didn't use their "raytracing is the future" talk). When they bought Havok, I was just thinking, "Well, there's step one."

Carl B said:
This is the perfect studio to buy though, on so many levels.
Click to expand...
I think the biggest one, though, is how little baggage they carry for what they're doing. We've all seen what UE3 can do, but UE3 has so many licensees that they really can't do anything to it, and they've got rather major IPs not really owned by them (e.g. Gears)... Offset has no such worries, and as far as we've heard, they've got fewer than 5 licensees (I'm only aware of one being stated publically). This puts them pretty much at total freedom to just do whatever they want in making a Larrabee-native software renderer.

I'm not sure what their ties to whoever-was-their-publisher were like, but if it was a smaller lower-tier pubilsher, it would have been small potatoes for Intel to buy out such rights without any real issue of stonewalling from the publisher involved.
 
[OFFTOPIC]

Nesh said:
Sorry for being off topic but how many episodes is that anime??? I want it!
Click to expand...
It's 12 episodes for the first season (called "Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei" aka "So Long, Mr. Despair"). The second season (called "Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei" aka "So Long, Mr. Despair Extreme") is currently airing and I think it's as far as episode 7 right now -- the plan is for a total of 13, IIRC. That clip was from the 3rd episode in season 2.

[/OFFTOPIC]

Anyway, back on topic... from my takeaway from Intel's presentation, the indication is that Larrabee may just mean a return to software rasterization. And frankly, that has me quite interested, and this means we may see a production-grade example sooner than I'd originally expected.
 
ShootMyMonkey said:
I think the biggest one, though, is how little baggage they carry for what they're doing. We've all seen what UE3 can do, but UE3 has so many licensees that they really can't do anything to it, and they've got rather major IPs not really owned by them (e.g. Gears)... Offset has no such worries, and as far as we've heard, they've got fewer than 5 licensees (I'm only aware of one being stated publically). This puts them pretty much at total freedom to just do whatever they want in making a Larrabee-native software renderer.

I'm not sure what their ties to whoever-was-their-publisher were like, but if it was a smaller lower-tier pubilsher, it would have been small potatoes for Intel to buy out such rights without any real issue of stonewalling from the publisher involved.
Click to expand...

I totally agree, and I think that's one of the best parts about the deal for Intel. Low overhead, very research/theory-oriented, and a small core of very talented individuals. In this formative stage it's a perfect opportunity for Intel to leverage these guys' views and experience in fleshing out their framework, and conversely in trusting that these folk will be able to tune an already impressive engine to truly shine on an otherwise exotic/very software-oriented architecture.

I'm excited to see what happens with Offset from here on out, and honestly I wouldn't be as excited from a technical standpoint even were it to have been Epic, or Crytek, or whoever... even though one of those might more naturally lend itself to ensuring commercial success.
 
ShootMyMonkey said:
Back on topic, though, the signs were there that they were going to buy a game studio for quite some time. I first got that impression a few months ago given the rhetoric they used when giving their Larrabee presentation here at Crystal (thank god they didn't use their "raytracing is the future" talk). When they bought Havok, I was just thinking, "Well, there's step one."
Click to expand...
Interesting regards Havok is Intel releasing it for free to PC developers. They're going on a PC development blitz. I wonder how that licensing agreement fits in with XNA on XB360? You are free to include Havok in your PC game, but if you port it to XB360 do you have to pay? Do Intel see little financial market for Havok on PC? It's likely any big studio using Havok on PC is also targeting consoles and using it there invokes payment, so open Havok would be confined to more indie PC production.
 
Shifty Geezer said:
Interesting regards Havok is Intel releasing it for free to PC developers. They're going on a PC development blitz. I wonder how that licensing agreement fits in with XNA on XB360? You are free to include Havok in your PC game, but if you port it to XB360 do you have to pay? Do Intel see little financial market for Havok on PC? It's likely any big studio using Havok on PC is also targeting consoles and using it there invokes payment, so open Havok would be confined to more indie PC production.
Click to expand...

I believe it was only free for non-commercial use, so I'm guessing the same goes for XB games?
Anyhow, there seems to be a decent possibility of the Offset engine being released in a similar way, which would be cool.
 
"Nerve-Damage" said:
What’s the possibility of Intel “themselves” entering the game console market (i.e. 4th competitor)?
Click to expand...

I'd say it exists, but when you look at risk vs reward you have to think that an intel branded home console is probably low probability. They would have a lot of work to do getting developers online. If they snap up a few more developers this year maybe.
 
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