Certain Affinity, one of the largest independent video game developers, today announced that it is celebrating the two-year anniversary of its Toronto studio with the hiring of a general manager and a coveted game industry award nomination. On the heels of the company being nominated for Canadian Games Award for Studio of the Year, Certain Affinity is excited to announce that game industry veteran Dan Ayoub has joined the studio as its VP of Canadian operations and Toronto’s general manager.
A Lebanese Canadian, born and raised in Montreal, Dan will be located in Canada and will be instrumental in leading Certain Affinity’s Canadian growth efforts. He is an integral part of the company overall, driving business development and marketing functions as well as overseeing education relations. Outside of his career, Dan is a passionate advocate for education and the power of games for learning and social impact, and serves on the Board of Directors of Games for Change.
Dan brings a wealth of experience from his career in video games that has spanned more than 20 years. He was most recently the General Manager of Education at Microsoft and 343 Industries’ former external studio head. He has also held game producer roles at Electronic Arts, Disney, and Ubisoft.
“As our main contact at 343 Industries for many years, we have worked with and respected Dan through many collaborations on the Halo franchise. We’ve always been impressed with his zeal for gaming and his extraordinary leadership skills,” said Max Hoberman, Certain Affinity’s CEO and Founder. “We have ambitious goals and growth plans for our company, and with Dan’s acumen for helping teams achieve their goals and making games accessible to everyone, we know we are set up to exceed all of our expectations.”
Dan joins a rapidly growing company, which recently passed 250 full-time employees across both studios located in Austin and Toronto. The Toronto studio currently has more than 30 employees and expects to nearly double in size this year. Certain Affinity recently celebrated its 14th anniversary as a studio. It has a proven track-record of developing innovative, triple-A action games, including both original titles and co-developed games in blockbuster franchises like Call of Duty, Halo, DOOM, and Left 4 Dead. Across its 14 years, it has developed or co-developed 32 products across 13 different franchises, with more than 100 million units sold. The Toronto location works in tandem with the Austin studio and is currently working alongside it on five projects, including an ambitious unannounced original IP game.
Hoberman continued, “What attracts talent to Certain Affinity is the same as what keeps them here: our commitment to our values, the variety and quality of projects, opportunity to work with amazing partners and IP, and the incredible talent that we are so fortunate to work alongside.”
Recognizing this dedication to its employees and products, Certain Affinity was recently nominated as “Studio of the Year” from the Canadian Game Awards. Certain Affinity was selected for this honor as a leading Canadian studio among much longer established studios including EA Motive, The Coalition, and Phoenix Labs. The winner is expected to be announced on April 9, 2021.
Certain Affinity is seeking a variety of skilled and passionate team members to join the company in Austin and Toronto, including artists, engineers, designers, producers, and more. Anyone interested in joining this growing independent AAA game developer can see a list of current job openings at certainaffinity.com/careers.
About Certain Affinity:
Certain Affinity (CA) was founded in 2006 as a bootstrap startup with the goal of creating innovative, top-quality action games. CA brings an exceptionally talented group together to form the largest independent developer in Austin, Texas and opened a second studio in Toronto, Canada in 2019. The company’s 250+ full-time employees include individuals from dozens of successful game studios, with Max Hoberman, CA’s founder and former Multiplayer and Online Lead for the Halo series, serving as CEO. Learn more at http://www.certainaffinity.com
