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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Keywords Studios has acquired US developer Certain Affinity for an undisclosed sum.

The studio was founded in 2006 by a group of former Bungie staff and has specialised in co-development on AAA games. Projects it has worked on include Hogwarts Legacy and Gotham Knights, as well as multiple titles in the Call of Duty and Halo franchises, including Halo Infinite.

Certain Affinity will continue to be led by its management team, including founder and CEO Max Hoberman and president and COO Paul Sams. The pair currently oversee a workforce of 180 people across the US and Canada.

The acquisition is subject to closing conditions, and will include both an upfront cash purchase, funded by Keywords' existing revolving credit facility, and an earn-out component based on Certain Affinity's performance.

"At this most difficult time in the market, we're thrilled to be able to provide stability and a supportive home for our team," said Hoberman in a statement. "The respect for our talent and culture that Keywords has shown, along with a willingness to invest in our growth, is unparalleled.

"Paul and I look forward to partnering with them to chart a course for careful expansion of our core co-development activities, refinement of our lead development capabilities, as well as championing the growth of the Create division."

Back in April, the studio laid off 25 US-based workers, 10% of its staff, with Hoberman citing "an industry-wide slow down in the funding of new lead and co-development projects" and a "reluctance of third party investors" as the main reasons for the decision.

Keywords CEO Bertrand Bodson added: "We are thrilled to welcome Certain Affinity to the Keywords Group. We have enormous respect for their business and reputation. They bring a wealth of knowledge, experience, and expertise to our Create division, complementing our existing skills and expanding our presence notably in the US and Canada.

"We look forward to partnering with Max, Paul, and their team over the coming years to continue to drive growth in our Create division and overall business."

Certain Affinity is Keywords' second acquisition of 2024, following the purchase of UK developer Wushu Studios in August.

Keywords acquires Halo co-developer Certain Affinity

Keywords Studios has acquired US developer Certain Affinity for an undisclosed sum.

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Cakeboxer]

Thanks for the text, while clicking the thread i was like: Who tf is Keywords and who tf is Certain Affinity.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Thanks for the text, while clicking the thread i was like: Who tf is Keywords and who tf is Certain Affinity.

Certain Affinity did a lot of co-dev work on Halo and they were working on the Battle Royale mode for Halo Infinite before ultimately being canceled. They're a top tier co-dev studio and I'm surprised that MS haven't snatched them considering they've been working on various Halo & COD titles for more than a decade.

 

[OverHeat]

Certain Affinity did a lot of co-dev work on Halo and they were working on the Battle Royale mode for Halo Infinite before ultimately being canceled. They're a top tier co-dev studio and I'm surprised that MS haven't snatched them considering they've been working on various Halo & COD titles for more than a decade.

Microsoft are dumb that’s why!

 

[GulfCoastZilla]

That’s a loss for Microsoft. The only team capable of doing any positive work with Halo just got gobbled up.

 

[clarky]

Another dumb move by MS.

Why they wouldn't snatch these guys up is beyond me. They are experts on some of your biggest andost important franchises.

Nice one Phil.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Another dumb move by MS.

Why they wouldn't snatch these guys up is beyond me. They are experts on some of your biggest andost important franchises.

Nice one Phil.

Yep. This was one of the studios that would have fit relatively well with Xbox Studios - barring any later fuck-ups by Xbox management.

But, of course, they let it go.

 

[Punished Miku]

I think if these guys want to be acquired by some group no one has ever heard of, its because they want to be more than a co-development studio. MS and Coalition know this team well and have done nothing but support them with steady work. Sometimes teams want to do their own thing.

 

[Reaseru]

Who? Keywhat? This is another Embracer Group?

 

[lh032]

Another dumb move by MS.

Why they wouldn't snatch these guys up is beyond me. They are experts on some of your biggest andost important franchises.

Nice one Phil.

MS only interested to snatch IP.

Certain affinity has no IP i guess.

 

[clarky]

I think if these guys want to be acquired by some group no one has ever heard of, its because they want to be more than a co-development studio. MS and Coalition know this team well and have done nothing but support them with steady work. Sometimes teams want to do their own thing.

Would make sense except they have been working on a new IP of their own for a couple of years at least. Maybe its not going so well and the support projects are not enough to keep things ticking along. But in that case would make even more sense for MS to snap them up.

The Secret is Out: Project Loro

At the close of gamescom 2023 we invited a few industry friends for a hands-on demo of our latest game, an original FPS codenamed Project Loro.

www.certainaffinity.com

 

[Ozriel]

Being acquired doesn’t stop MS from working with them on Halo titles. Thats not how this usually works, and is usually a win-win for both parties.

There are multiple Halo games in the works, according to MS, and if CA’s work was needed, they’d have already inked the deal on that ages ago.

 

[balls of snow]

CA are co-developing Exodus as well. The big budget mass effect like rpg.

Archetype Entertainment Announces Partnership with Certain Affinity® on Development of Its New Sci-Fi RPG IP, EXODUS™

EXODUS, the new AAA Sci-Fi Action-Adventure Role-Playing Game from Archetype Entertainment, revealed at The Game Awards (TGAs) annual event in Los Angeles last month, has announced a co-development partnership with the team at Certain Affinity.

www.certainaffinity.com

 

[StereoVsn]

Keywords seems to be pretty big company that does consulting and mid-tier games. So seems like a decent fit.

 

[Radical_3d]

Thanks for the text, while clicking the thread i was like: Who tf is Keywords and who tf is Certain Affinity.

I still don’t know who Keywords are…

 

[clarky]

Being acquired doesn’t stop MS from working with them on Halo titles. Thats not how this usually works, and is usually a win-win for both parties.

There are multiple Halo games in the works, according to MS, and if CA’s work was needed, they’d have already inked the deal on that ages ago.

Absolutely. But I think this is one studio that nobody would actually moan about MS acquiring. They've worked closely for years.

Ah well, I've given up trying to understand what MS' strategy is a long time ago.

 

[Ozriel]

Absolutely. But I think this is one studio that nobody would actually moan about MS acquiring. They've worked closely for years.

Ah well, I've given up trying to understand what MS' strategy is a long time ago.

Yeah, I think this would have been a pretty decent buy for them. The talent is excellent, though it seems their finances are shaky if they had to let go 10% of their staff earlier this year.

It would probably have been a very affordable purchase.

 

[BlueLyria]

Still got no idea who or what keyword is.
The biggest question I got from everything is: Will certain affinity still work alongside MS or is that off the tables now?

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Really seems like everything Halo, including their support studios, is blown away and starting anew. With 18 month contractors, college grads and people in India that know Unreal.

 

[Punished Miku]

Still got no idea who or what keyword is.
The biggest question I got from everything is: Will certain affinity still work alongside MS or is that off the tables now?

CD is still working on Perfect Dark after Embracer. Just up to them to take on work if they want.

 

[Complistic]

This studio seems competent. Probably why Phil wasn't interested.

 

[PJX]

This studio seems competent. Probably why Phil wasn't interested.

 

[Big Baller]

We have Unreal and AI now

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Thanks for the text, while clicking the thread i was like: Who tf is Keywords and who tf is Certain Affinity.

CA are good, They did the Doom 2016 MP side of things.

 

[Nonehxc]

Certain Affinity did a lot of co-dev work on Halo and they were working on the Battle Royale mode for Halo Infinite before ultimately being canceled. They're a top tier co-dev studio and I'm surprised that MS haven't snatched them considering they've been working on various Halo & COD titles for more than a decade.

Microsoft are dumb that’s why!

Yep. This was one of the studios that would have fit relatively well with Xbox Studios - barring any later fuck-ups by Xbox management.

But, of course, they let it go.

Another dumb move by MS.

Why they wouldn't snatch these guys up is beyond me. They are experts on some of your biggest andost important franchises.

Nice one Phil.

Contractors.

Xbox Studios(MS as a whole) have always relied VERY HEAVILY on fixed time contractors. Much less pay, much less rights, much less of anything good, including quality work out of it.

Obviously these guys are one step or several above the indian graphic sweatshop guy or the indonesian texture farm artist, but still, contractors.

That's why many times MS( and others like Ubisoft) things look like sanitized cookie cutter products instead of playable crazy wildly creative works, you have a core team of very highly regarded leads and sub leads all answering to a few 'suits' that all know more than the people making the game, a few under workers under them and then outside, armies of people paid badly to churn whatever they want them to churn, be it code, textures, etc. that will be tweaked or not if needed stateside. Nothing farther from the close knit group of developers all rowing in the same direction towards the best they can do to get bonuses and a medal for the resume, and the pride in doing it the best they could and get recognized.

All organizations practice this to some extent, but for MS it's their butter and bread. Like the old saying goes 'Minimum wage, minimum effort'.

 

[Nonehxc]

CA are co-developing Exodus as well. The big budget mass effect like rpg.

Archetype Entertainment Announces Partnership with Certain Affinity® on Development of Its New Sci-Fi RPG IP, EXODUS™

EXODUS, the new AAA Sci-Fi Action-Adventure Role-Playing Game from Archetype Entertainment, revealed at The Game Awards (TGAs) annual event in Los Angeles last month, has announced a co-development partnership with the team at Certain Affinity.

www.certainaffinity.com

That game has the potential of being a marvel. The core leads are all, mainly, RPG Royalty. And under Wizards of the Coast like old times!

 

[clarky]

Contractors.

Xbox Studios(MS as a whole) have always relied VERY HEAVILY on fixed time contractors. Much less pay, much less rights, much less of anything good, including quality work out of it.

Obviously these guys are one step or several above the indian graphic sweatshop guy or the indonesian texture farm artist, but still, contractors.

That's why many times MS( and others like Ubisoft) things look like sanitized cookie cutter products instead of playable crazy wildly creative works, you have a core team of very highly regarded leads and sub leads all answering to a few 'suits' that all know more than the people making the game, a few under workers under them and then outside, armies of people paid badly to churn whatever they want them to churn, be it code, textures, etc. that will be tweaked or not if needed stateside. Nothing farther from the close knit group of developers all rowing in the same direction towards the best they can do to get bonuses and a medal for the resume, and the pride in doing it the best they could and get recognized.

All organizations practice this to some extent, but for MS it's their butter and bread. Like the old saying goes 'Minimum wage, minimum effort'.

We are all well aware of MS' policies surrounding contractors mate.

Didn't stop them buying half the industry. Don't see why CA would be any different.

 

[CamHostage]

Who? Keywhat? This is another Embracer Group?

Not really, certainly not like you'd think of a bunch of little companies merging to get big for investment attraction. Its just a lot of workhorse shops under one umbrella.

Keywords Studios is a conglomerate of support studios; it does its own internal work sometimes, but its satellites have maybe more recognizable names. (Although in general, support studios almost never get named outside of deep in the credits and so even those who do full-production remasters are rarely recognizable. Certain Affinity itself was virtually unknown before the Tatanka rumor even though they've done Halo co-dev work since Halo 2; they also have way more titles to support but people here think of them as a Microsoft partner.)

Locations & Studios - Keywords Studios Limited

Our network of studios spans the globe. Combining the strength of a global platform with the agility of local studios creates our superpower.

www.keywordsstudios.com

You probably don't recognize many names, but you'd know some work.

• High Voltage used to make franchise games (still does some original titles, like the new deckbuilder Dragon Front Adventures) but now is busy making tons of Fortnite packs.
• Heavy Iron Studios is known going back to the Evil Dead and Family Guy and Disney Infinity games, they since have done GAAS support on Avengers and other projects.
• Tantalus Media is an Australian studio with history dating back to the SNES. They worked on Luigi's Mansion 2 and Twillight Princess/Skyward Sword HD remasters as well as a ton of other stuff.
• Hardsuit Labs does some big content releases like LEGO Fortnite and COD stuff, also were leads on the ill-fated first version of Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2
• Climax used to be a leading studio back in the PS2/PS3 eras but has retreated from full-scale productions to do support stuff like the PC version of Returnal and help on the upcoming nextgen Exodus shown at TGAs last year.
• D3T did the remaster of Alan Wake and PC version of GotG.
• Forgotten Empires did the AoE remasters and did some campaigns of the series.
• Coconut Lizard did the Switch version of EA FC and have done tech work supporting Sea of Thieves.
• FortySeven and DMM and India Pearl are PR firms doing media relations.
• Big Farmer I believe does trailers and ads for games and movies, similar to Blur Studio and ReelFX.
• Etc. There's like 50 companies in the Keywords assembly.

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Mindblowing how MS didn't pick these guys up.

 

[Ozriel]

Contractors.

Xbox Studios(MS as a whole) have always relied VERY HEAVILY on fixed time contractors. Much less pay, much less rights, much less of anything good, including quality work out of it.

Obviously these guys are one step or several above the indian graphic sweatshop guy or the indonesian texture farm artist, but still, contractors.

That's why many times MS( and others like Ubisoft) things look like sanitized cookie cutter products instead of playable crazy wildly creative works, you have a core team of very highly regarded leads and sub leads all answering to a few 'suits' that all know more than the people making the game, a few under workers under them and then outside, armies of people paid badly to churn whatever they want them to churn, be it code, textures, etc. that will be tweaked or not if needed stateside. Nothing farther from the close knit group of developers all rowing in the same direction towards the best they can do to get bonuses and a medal for the resume, and the pride in doing it the best they could and get recognized.

All organizations practice this to some extent, but for MS it's their butter and bread. Like the old saying goes 'Minimum wage, minimum effort'.

So the same MS that’s able to bring in Crystal Dynamics to Co-develop Perfect Dark and help out with content for Fable…they’ll inexplicably be able to work with Certain Affinity going forward?

Most of their studios seem to fit the ‘close, tight knit’ description, anyway.