Physics engine Havok wanted our help to secure media interviews to announce a new pricing model and celebrate its 20th birthday.
Overview
For two decades, Microsoft’s Havok physics engine has powered some of gaming’s most iconic franchises, including Half Life, Call of Duty, Halo, The Legend of Zelda, Elden Ring, Destiny, and Astro Bot.
To celebrate its 20th birthday and announce a new pricing model making the technology accessible to smaller developers for the first time, Havok approached Big Games Machine to generate significant awareness within the global games industry.
Client
Havok
What we did
Secured media coverage
what we did
Our plan was to make the most of the huge gathering of industry media at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in 2025. We focused on setting up face-to-face interviews with a handpicked list of the most influential B2B and specialist games media to break the news, followed by a wider campaign to arrange more in-depth stories.
The challenge was to communicate not just a birthday, but a fundamental shift in Havok’s business model. This required careful preparation and targeted outreach to ensure the message was clearly understood and amplified correctly.
Over the course of the project, we delivered the following:
Created a curated list of top-tier B2B games media.
Prepared a comprehensive FAQ document, working closely with Havok on key talking points.
Reached out to key journalists to schedule interviews with Havok GM, David Coughlan.
Arranged and managed a schedule of interviews during and after GDC 2025.
Pitched and secured an in-depth, multi-page studio visit eature with world-leading consumer games magazine Edge
We achieved significant media coverage in the most respected industry publications, ensuring Havok's key messages reached their target audience of game developers worldwide. The project was a huge success.
Widespread interview coverage with top B2B media including MCV/Develop, PC Gamer, VentureBeat, Game Developer, Knowledge, and 80 Level.
A coveted 8-page feature in Edge magazine. This involved flying a journalist to Havok’s headquarters in Dublin to spend a full day interviewing key members of the team, resulting in a deep and celebratory look at the company’s legacy and future.
