Certain Affinity, the co-developer known for its work on the Halo and Call of Duty franchises, has faced a round of layoffs. CEO Max Hoberman announced the news on the company’s website. These mark the first layoffs in Certain Affinity’s 17+ year history.
Hoberman explains the layoffs mainly affect the studio’s business operations team. While Certain Affinity still employs over 250 full-time staff, approximately 10% have been let go.
“This decision reflects an industry-wide slowdown in funding for new lead and co-development projects, alongside investor hesitation towards directly funding games and studios,” Hoberman states. “This has severely impacted our ability to sign new contracts.”
Certain Affinity is assisting affected staff with severance packages and benefits continuation. They are also helping employees retain vested awards from the company’s Stock Equity Plan.
“We’ve built a strong, supportive company culture, and we’ll be doing everything we can to help our former team members during this transition,” Hoberman says.
Over its history, Certain Affinity has played a key role in shaping popular titles like Halo, Call of Duty, Prey (2017), Gotham Knights, Doom (2016), Left 4 Dead, and Hogwarts Legacy. Their work on Halo: Infinite has been especially crucial.
Sadly, Certain Affinity joins a growing list of developers impacted by recent industry-wide layoffs. This trend includes studios like Supermassive Games (Until Dawn), Cloud Imperium Games (Star Citizen), and more.
