Take-Two Acquires Dynamixyz, Creators of RDR 2's Facial Animations
Take-Two Interactive has announced the acquisition of Dynamixyz, a company that specializes in creating facial animations. We've seen the effects of its work in Red Dead Redemption 2 and NBA 2K21, and now we'll almost certainly see it in GTA 6 as well.
French company Dynamixyz, which is a "world-class leader" in facial animation creation, has been acquired by Take-Two Interactive Software. The effects of cooperation between the two entities could be seen in Red Dead Redemption II and in NBA 2K21. Now, the French will provide their services exclusively to the American corporation and its subsidiaries, including, among others, Rockstar Games and 2K.
Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but we can assume that both companies knew what they were signing up for. Founded in 2010, over the last decade Dynamixyz has cooperated not only on development of video games, but also animated series and films (such as Love, Death and Robots or Avengers: Endgame).
Where did the involvement in such high-profile projects come from? From the fact that Dynamixyz operates a suite of proprietary state-of-the-art tools for motion capture, facial analysis, full 3D processing, and technologies that combine CGI, image processing, and machine learning. Michael Worosz, vice president and director of strategy and independent publishing at Take-Two, Inc, described it as a "highly complementary and strategic addition to the US company's world-class publishing and development structure". He added that:
"Gaspard and the visionary team at Dynamixyz have a well-earned reputation (...) and their work has captivated millions of people around the world from the box office to the living room."
To which the aforementioned Gaspard Breton "replied" that all of Dynamixyz is happy to join the Take-Two family and become the exclusive partner of their development teams. He also added that:
"Having worked with Rockstar Games and 2K, we know firsthand Take-Two's commitment to creative excellence and welcome the opportunity to leverage our tools and technology to help them to achieve that goal and to captivate and engage audiences further."
The latter shouldn't be difficult, as long as subsequent productions from e.g. Rockstar are similar in quality to the aforementioned Red Dead Redemption II in which the faces of Arthur Morgan and company looked great. Now we can be almost sure that GTA 6 - interesting rumors about which have recently appeared - or, in the longer term, Red Dead Redemption III will not differ in this respect from their predecessors. It should only get better.
