On the second anniversary of the company’s Toronto studio opening, Certain Affinity has announced that it’s hiring video game industry veteran Dan Ayoub as the company’s vice president of Canadian operations and general manager.
Ayoub is best known for being Halo developer 343 Industries’ former external studio head and has also held producer roles at major developers, including Electronic Arts, Disney and Ubisoft.
“It’s a really amazing time to come on board at Certain Affinity. I’ve had the pleasure of working with the company for over a decade on Halo, and I’ve always been impressed by the talent and passion of the team,” said Ayoub in an interview with MobileSyrup.
Certain Affinity says the company recently surpassed 250 full-time employees across its Austin and Toronto studios. The developer’s Toronto studio currently has more than 30 employees and expects to double in size this year.
“…the most significant growth in the next few years will likely take place in Toronto and Canada. We already have a large number of roles open with more coming in every day, and with Toronto’s hugely talented development community, we’re eager to welcome more folks to the studio to join us on this amazing ride,” said Ayoub.
Certain Affinity is best known for helping develop notable video game series like Call of Duty, Left 4 Dead and Halo. Along with a new original title, the developer recently confirmed that it’s providing development support to 343 Industries’ Halo Infinite.
Though Toronto is home to several independent game developers, the city hasn’t attracted many AAA studios beyond Ubisoft and Certain Affinity. Ayoub says this is something he hopes changes over the next few years as Certain Affinity’s Toronto office continues to grow.
“You have quite a few top notch development schools, a great pool of talent working at both large and small studios, a metropolitan city with everything you could ask for, and a provincial government that sees the value of the industry and is extremely excited about working with us to grow it there. The ingredients are all there to make it happen, and I’m excited to work with both the studio and government to keep growing Toronto as a global centre of excellence for game development,” said Ayoub.
Certain Affinity has also been nominated by the Canadian Game Awards for ‘Studio of the Year‘ alongside other notable developers like The Coalition, EA Motive, Thunder Lotus and more.
