Halo and Call of Duty co-developer Certain Affinity expanding into Canada

Austin-based game studio Certain Affinity has announced plans to open a second development center in Toronto. 

The company is best known for its work as a co-developer on the Halo, Call of Duty, and DOOM franchises, but is now looking to create its own original titles from scratch. 

As reported by The Austin Statesman, the move is being financed with an $18 million development loan from Chinese company Leyou Technologies, which acquired a 20 percent stake in Certain Affinity back in 2017. 

The news follows the recent expansion of Certain Affinity's studio in Austin, which was bolstered with the addition of an event space and around 55 fresh hires. 

Company president and founder Max Hoberman said the new Toronto studio will initially house around 60 new staffers, and will allow it to tap into the city's various universities and game development programs while laying down international roots.

He also believes the expansion is essential if the studio wants to successfully transition to the games as a service model, as they'll need more firepower to continue supporting titles post-launch. 

"In the past, we primarily partnered with other developers as an extension of their internal teams, working on a specific subset of a game. Now we are taking on all the functions of a game in its entirety -- from concept to completion," explained Hoberman.

"We are also transitioning to develop games as a service, so after we ship a game we will continue to develop new content and features for that game into the foreseeable future."