INSIGHTS / News

IKINEMA, the leader in real-time inverse kinematics, today announced that Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) has signed a license agreement to utilise IKinema RunTime middleware. The deal will see RunTime’s full-body IK solver incorporated into future games.

“IKinema’s skill in delivering realism and believability in procedural animation is particularly suited to game development. Square Enix is a significant addition to our portfolio and we’re honoured they chose RunTime. We look forward to Square Enix becoming one of a growing number of top studios and publishers that recognize our technology gives both greater creative freedom to developers as well as a heightened sense of realism to players.” Alexandre Pechev, IKinema Chief Executive

RunTime lets studios procedurally animate characters and multi-limbed creatures of any shape or size during game-play, resulting in characters that respond to the game world around them with 100% accuracy and more natural and life-like movement. The technology also allows developers to use the same code for mobile and triple-A projects, meaning they can apply universal animation standards to multi-platform titles with minimum effort and expense.

The Square Enix Group, headquartered in Tokyo, boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property including: Final Fantasy®, which has sold over 110 million units worldwide, Dragon Quest® which has sold over 66 million units worldwide and Tomb Raider® which has sold over 45 million units worldwide, together with other well established products such as: Deus Ex, Hitman, Kane & Lynch, Star Ocean, and Space Invaders.