Oxford U. to Profit from GTA IV [Research]

[GamePoster]

Some portion of the £200M that Grand Theft Auto IV is projected to earn will find its way into the treasury of the U.K.'s world-renowned Oxford University. That's because the game's Euphoria engine was developed by two Oxford students using research at Oxford's zoology department.
The university's technology transfer company then teamed up with Natural Motion, the company the two students, Torsten Reil and Colm Massey, created to build and sell the engine. As such Oxford retains a share in anything Euphoria and Natural Motion should earn down the road. Such as ... Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Oxford's student newspaper (shout out to student media!) has the story. It couldn't get word on exactly how much the university will reap. But considering this is a breakthrough character modeling engine that eliminates the need for pre-made animations, I bet it didn't come cheaply.
Time was, video games were written on old mainframes during after-hours downtime. Now they're coming out of fully approved research and backed by funding from a world class university. Remember that one next time someone complains that this is a frivolous pursuit of ours.
Oxford to Profit from GTA IV [Cherwell, Oxford's student newspaper]

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