Hyperion Entertainment changes status of Warp3D V4

We would like to inform you that after extensive deliberation, Hyperion Entertainment has decided to upgrade the status of Warp 3D V4 from a freeware product to a commercial OEM product which will offered to Amiga hardware developers for a moderate license fee.

This decision was prompted by two major reasons:

1. Hyperion Entertainment has reached an agreement with Amiga Inc. to incorporate Warp3D V4 into Amiga OS 4.x on a per unit royalty basis. Producers of zico compliant hardware (Amiga One etc.) will be required to license Amiga OS 4.x and will as such be paying indirectly for Warp 3D V4 drivers. It would be unacceptable to both Amiga Inc. and these hardware producers that they would be required to pay royalties for a product which other hardware producers would receive free of charge.
2. Warp 3D started out as a freeware product developed by non-commercial developers to support the Virge and Permedia 2 chipsets. Compared to current chipsets, the Virge and Permedia 2 are extremely primitive and feature-poor. The effort and time needed to adequately support modern chipsets such as the Voodoo 3 and Matrox G450 with their rich and advanced feature-set is far greater than the effort required to support the Virge and Permedia 2 chipsets. Combined with the fact that there are currently no less than 7 different PCI product from three different manufacturers, it's clear that the effort required to support modern chipsets on all the different PCI hardware available goes far beyond the scope of a freeware project.

As the original Warp 3D developers have now moved on to commercial development, maintaining Warp 3D as a freeware product would entail that development of new Warp 3D drivers and extension of the Warp 3D API would be very slow as development could only take place "after hours".

This is not only not in the interest of Amiga users but it is also not in the interest of hardware producers and resellers who rely on the availability of Warp 3D drivers to successfully market their Amiga hardware.

Hyperion Entertainment fully understands that the company has a responsibility towards the Amiga community including the hardware producers because of its control over the Warp 3D API and no attempt has ever been made or will be made to exploit this position unfairly.

We have already succesfully negotiated agreements with Matay and DCE regarding Warp3D V4 support for the Voodoo 3 on their respective PCI hardware. We are therefore happy to report that Voodoo 3 drivers for these PCI solutions will be available shortly.

A similar proposal was made to Elbox but so far we have not received any reaction.

Users considering purchase of a PCI solution for Amiga and who are interested in high-performance 3D graphics should investigate the availability of Warp3D drivers prior to making their decision to opt for one or the other PCI solution.

It should also be noted that Warp3D will remain free for end users. Also, this only affects hardware producers. Software development with Warp3D is still free of charge, commercial and shareware products included.