Certain Affinity gains Blizzard veteran Paul Sams as new COO

Developer Certain Affinity announced industry veteran Paul Sams will serve as its new chief operating officer and president. With Sams in his new position, the Austin, TX-based studio has aims towards becoming one of the top developers in the industry. 

"I am excited to bring my years of proven experience growing companies, building beloved franchises, and deeply supporting developers to CA to ensure that their best work is yet to come," wrote Sams. His prior credits include being COO for Blizzard Entertainment and CEO for The Order: 1886 developer Ready At Dawn. Before his promotion, he also served as a three-year advisor for Certain Affinity. 

Founded in 2006, Certain Affinity cut its teeth helping Bungie with DLC for Halo 2. The developer's output has mostly been helping other developers, be it 343 Industries on Halo 4 and Halo Infinite, or Treyarch and Infinity Ward on respective Call of Duty games, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Ghosts. 

"I'm excited to partner with Paul and our key leaders to guide our company’s evolution to being both a world-class co-developer and a world-class lead developer—and ultimately to Certain Affinity becoming a household name," said Certain Affinity CEO Max Hoberman. 

"I knew from the first day [Paul and I] met that we were remarkably like-minded in our approach to business, game and franchise development, and people."

Part of Certain Affinity's expansion will be the development of an original IP. Announced by the studio in 2021, Hoberman called it "our most ambitious title to date."