NaturalMotion Limited is a British video game development company with development offices in London,

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. Founded in November 2001 as a spin-out company from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, NaturalMotion specialises in creating animation technology for the

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

and

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

industries. In January 2014, NaturalMotion was acquired by

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher known for its social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile an ...

for US$527 million. Their main technology products are Endorphin (for the film industry) and

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

(for the gaming industry), in addition to video games such as Backbreaker and CSR Racing.

Technology

NaturalMotion commercialized their procedural animation technology, which they call ''Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS)''. DMS is based on a real-time simulation of

biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...

and the motor control nervous system. As such, it has roots in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and robot control theory. NaturalMotion states that DMS allows for fully interactive 3D characters, as it is not based on canned animation. DMS is used in two of the company's products: Endorphin, a 'tool for creating virtual stuntmen' and

, a runtime engine. The first commercially released title to use Euphoria was ''

Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's ''Grand Theft Auto: San And ...

'' by

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

. NaturalMotion's other middleware product is Morpheme - an animation engine for

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

, PC,

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

, Android, and

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

. Unlike the company's other packages, Morpheme does not use DMS and instead provides tools for blending animations, inverse kinematics and rigid-body simulation. Some of the games that use Morpheme include '' BioShock Infinite'', '' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West'', '' Eve Online'', '' Horizon Zero Dawn'', and '' Pure''.

Customers

NaturalMotion's technology is in use at many film and games companies, including

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, The Mill,

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

, Moving Picture Company,

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

and many more. Movies and games featuring Endorphin animation include ''

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

'', ''

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

'', '' The Getaway'', ''

Tekken 5 is a 2004 fighting game developed and published by Namco for arcade game, arcades, before being ported to the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It is the fifth main game in the ''Tekken'' series, marking the tenth anniversary of the series. The game is set ...

'' and '' Metal Gear Solid''. In 2006,

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor, former video game developer and video game publisher, publisher, and a subsidiary of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George ...

announced that it would use the

animation engine in '' Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings'' and '' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed'' games. In 2007,

announced it had licensed this engine for many of their new and upcoming games, with the first announced title being ''

''. Subsequent Rockstar Games titles that use the engine include ''

Red Dead Redemption ''Red Dead Redemption'' is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. A successor to 2004's ''Red Dead Revolver'', it is the second game in the ''Red Dead'' series. ''Red Dead Redemption'' is se ...

'', ''

Max Payne 3 ''Max Payne 3'' is a 2012 third-person shooter game developed and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sequel to '' Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne'' and the third entry in the ''Max Payne'' series. ''Max Payne 3'' is played from a third-p ...

'', ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

'' and ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in a fictiona ...

''.

NaturalMotion Games

In 2009, NaturalMotion released its first game, the iPhone title '' Backbreaker Football'', which used Morpheme to simulate movement and tackles. The game was a critical and commercial success, with a Quality Index score of 8.1/10 and 5 million downloads. The company created a new division, NaturalMotion Games, on 18 November 2010. In 2011, NaturalMotion Games released its first Free-To-Play title ''My Horse'' on iPhone and iPad. It has been downloaded over 11 million times. Its second F2P game, ''CSR Racing'', reached number one in Top Grossing and Top Free

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

charts across the world. The game made over $12 million in its first month. In August 2012, NaturalMotion announced that it had acquired the studio, BossAlien, for an undisclosed sum. NaturalMotion's CEO Torsten Reil announced a new 'interactive toy' called ''Clumsy Ninja'' on stage during the Apple iPhone 5 announcement. It is the first mobile title to use the Euphoria animation engine. The game was originally announced for 'holiday season' 2012, however it was delayed by almost a year. It eventually appeared worldwide on the App Store on 21 November 2013. On release, Clumsy Ninja became the first Application to be promoted with a video trailer embedded in the Application Store. In October 2017, Zynga closed NaturalMotion's Oxford office.

Games developed

References

External links

NaturalMotion website
{{Take-Two Interactive British companies established in 2001 Video game companies established in 2001 Video game development companies Video game companies of the United Kingdom Companies associated with the University of Oxford Companies based in London 2001 establishments in England Zynga 2014 mergers and acquisitions British subsidiaries of foreign companies