Certain Affinity is an American

video game development Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC a ...

studio based in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. It was founded in 2006 by Max Hoberman and a small number of other ex-

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (progr ...

employees and other industry veterans.

History

Certain Affinity's creation was announced in December 2006. The studio was founded by ex-

employee Max Hoberman. In addition to staff from Bungie, it also includes ex-members of companies such as

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

, Red Storm,

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

Digital Anvil Digital Anvil, Inc. (formerly Digital Anvil Holdings, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas owned by Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). It was founded in 1996 by brothers Chris and Erin Roberts along with Tony Zurovec, Ma ...

, NCSoft, and the now-defunct

Midway Austin Midway Studios Austin (formerly known as Inevitable Entertainment) was a video game developer established by former Acclaim Studios Austin employees, founded as Inevitable Entertainment in 2000 and acquired by Midway Games in 2004. Responsible ...

and Ion Storm Austin. The studio's first work was in creating two additional multiplayer levels for the popular

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

game ''

Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed '' ...

''. These maps, called "Tombstone" and "Desolation" (which comprised the "Blastacular Map Pack") were the last ''Halo 2'' maps to be released; they are remakes of levels from the original ''Halo'', called "Hang 'Em High" and "Derelict" respectively. They were released for ''Halo 2'' on the Xbox Live on April 17, 2007. These maps were not released for ''Halo 2'' Vista, but were replaced with two new maps exclusive to ''Halo 2'' Vista: "District" and "Uplift". Certain Affinity worked closely with members of

and

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

during the development of these two maps. Certain Affinity started working on another project in November 2006, which was revealed to be an unannounced original IP game in the

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

genre. Certain Affinity's first original game was '' Age of Booty'', a downloadable

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...

game released on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

and

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

. The title was published by

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

on October 15, 2008. The company helped

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

port ''

Left 4 Dead ''Left 4 Dead'' is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the ...

'' to the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

. In 2009, the company announced the completion of Halo Waypoint, developed in conjunction with

343 Industries 343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the ''Halo'' series of military science fiction games, originally created and ...

. The company worked on the "Defiant Map Pack" for '' Halo: Reach'', released on March 15, 2011. The company announced its new game, due to release in summer 2011, called '' Crimson Alliance'', at RTX 2011. Certain Affinity also partnered with

again for the development of '' Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'', which was released exclusively for Xbox 360 on November 15, 2011. At RTX 2012, Certain Affinity announced that the studio was working with 343 Industries again on developing the Forge map-making tools for ''

Halo 4 ''Halo 4'' is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. ''Halo 4''s story follows a cybernetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, a ...

''. At RTX 2014, Certain Affinity showed off their involvement in '' Halo: The Master Chief Collection'' with the reveal of one of the six remade Halo 2 maps, Coagulation, along with a new vehicle, the Gungoose. In 2017,

Leyou Leyou Technologies Holdings Limited ( zh, 樂遊科技控股有限公司; formerly Sumpo Food Holdings Limited) is a Chinese video game holding company based at Lippo Centre, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Founded in 2010, the company originally dealt w ...

Tech invested $10 million in Certain Affinity to develop an original game.

Games

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.certainaffinity.com/ Companies based in Austin, Texas Video game companies established in 2006 Video game companies of the United States Video game companies based in Texas Video game development companies 2006 establishments in Texas