Archive notice: This article was originally published on 18 November 2020 and has been translated into English as part of Digital Production’s archive project.
Epic’s investment
SideFX announced that Epic Games had become a minority investor in the company. The relationship reflected growing overlap between their users: Houdini was increasingly embedded in game-development pipelines, while Unreal Engine offered real-time rendering and previs tools for film and television.
The software already worked closely together through Houdini Engine for Unreal, allowing procedural Houdini assets to be used and refined inside Epic’s engine.
Roadmap unchanged
SideFX said Kim Davidson would remain majority owner, president and CEO. The company would continue working with its existing industry partners, and the Houdini development roadmap for film, television, advertising and games would not change.
Marketing director Chris Hebert stated that development of Houdini Engine plug-ins would continue as before and that no additional exclusive integrations were planned. Each company retained its intellectual property.
Further information
SideFX published the official announcement and an accompanying forum post.
