Halo and COD support studio Certain Affinity lays off 25 staff

Certain Affinity has laid off 25 of its staff, in what its CEO says is the first mass layoff in the studio’s 17-year history.

The prolific Texas-based support studio, which has collaborated on instalments in the Halo and Call of Duty franchises since 2007, has let go 25 employees. This is around 10% of its workforce, based on its website’s About Us page, which says it has 250+ staff.

In a statement on the Certain Affinity site, founder and CEO Max Hoberman said the company was the latest to be impacted by the current state of the games industry.

“Over the past 12 months the game industry has faced unprecedented challenges,” Hoberman said. “We are no exception.

“Today we made the extremely difficult decision to inform 25 of our US-based employees that their jobs are being eliminated. This has the most impact on the teams running our business operations.

“There are multiple factors underlying this decision to do a layoff for the first time in our 17+ year history.

“Most significant is an industry-wide slow down in the funding of new lead and co-development projects and the reluctance of third party investors to fund games or game companies. This has made it exceptionally difficult to sign new work or secure other forms of funding.”

Hoberman added that those being let go would be compensated.

“Our current focus is on our team and the well-being of those most impacted, whom we are supporting with severance pay and benefits continuation,” he said. “We are also making their vested awards under our Stock Equity Plan portable so they may benefit from the company’s success in the future.

“We have built an amazing culture where we all come together to support one another in times of need. We ask for your understanding and patience while we navigate this unprecedented event. Thank you.”

Certain Affinity announced in August that it’s working on an original first-person shooter codenamed Loro.

At the time, Hoberman said the company had been pitching the title behind closed doors at Gamescom, and that its playable demo “put a lot of smiles on people’s faces”.

The games industry continues to see widespread layoffs, with no sign of it slowing down any time soon.

It’s estimated that around 10,500 game industry employees were laid off last year. And less than three months into 2024, some 8,000 planned jobs cuts are already thought to have been confirmed.

This week alone, it was reported that Smilegate Barcelona was closed and all its employees let go, that Nintendo of America is cutting 120 contractor roles ahead of Switch 2’s launch, and that Sega is selling Relic Entertainment and cutting 240 jobs across Europe.