Certain Affinity, the largest independent developer headquartered in Austin, Texas, announced today the opening of a new office in the Fashion District of Toronto, Canada. This new studio is expected to ramp up to sixty developers later this year; career opportunities are available at this address.
Max Hoberman, Certain Affinity’s President and Founder, said:
Toronto is becoming a hub for game development with its progressive and multicultural environment and its thriving design and technical talent pool. We have built a company not only with top talent and benefits, but also with one of the game industry’s most inclusive and diverse cultures, and we look forward to bringing this mindset to our new Toronto studio and to being a positive member of the Toronto business community.
Toronto Mayor John Tory added:
The Toronto Region is drawing the attention of the world for its emerging digital media and game development sectors, its diverse and welcoming community and dynamic cultural scene, I'm thrilled that Certain Affinity will call Toronto home, create jobs for our talented residents and contribute to our reputation as a global centre for innovation, creativity and economic growth. Welcome to the Toronto Region!
Certain Affinity might not be known to the mainstream public, but they've co-developed a multitude of highly successful shooter games from Halo 2 to Halo: The Master Chief Collection, from Call of Duty: World at War to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, not to mention Left 4 Dead and 2016's DOOM.
In 2017, though, they've received a $10 million investment from Leyou Technologies (which, in turn, got a 20 percent stake in the company). They are doing a Transformers Online game for them, though no concrete details have been shared as of yet.
The new Toronto office is expected to help the main office in Austin with the development of this project as well as a brand new IP called Last Expedition, a sci-fi cooperative first-person shooter where four players dropped on a hostile alien planet have to survive at all costs. Both titles will use the games-as-a-service (GaaS) model and receive new features and content with constant updates.
