One of the more prominent figures in the Halo franchise and Halo Infinite, Joseph Staten, declares their complete separation from Microsoft and promises to soon share more details on what comes next. Microsoft’s decision to release the Halo Infinite multiplayer early in beta and free to play proved to be a boon as fans were able to jump in and start playing right away. Halo Infinite development was notoriously difficult, leading to numerous delays and reworks.
That goodwill, though, has diminished over time as fans continue to be impatient with Halo Infinite’s sluggish reward and content cycle. Even worse, since the release of the game, 343 Industries has seen a significant number of employees leave both the studio and the Halo Infinite project.
Numerous well-known developers left the studio just last year, including lead developer David Berger, Design Lead Jerry Hook, and Halo Infinite multiplayer creative director Tom French. It has now been made official that a significant leadership component is completely leaving Microsoft and Halo.
Longtime Halo developer Joseph Staten, who is currently serving as Head of Creative, announced his complete departure from Microsoft in a recent Tweet. Staten is withholding his destination for the time being but says he will soon reveal it. He also thanks his Xbox coworkers for their understanding and support during this significant transition. Microsoft also announced the information and expressed gratitude to Staten for all of his contributions to the Xbox and the Halo franchise in general.
The Tweet inspired a large number of business colleagues, including former Halo Infinite coworkers, to thank him for his work.
Staten has played a significant role in the overall Halo franchise over the years. He initially worked for Bungie as the cinematic director of Halo: Combat Evolved and both of the mainline sequels that followed before transitioning to the Destiny franchise as the lead writer. Staten eventually left Bungie to work on games like ReCore and Crackdown 3 for Microsoft as senior creative director. He eventually joined Master Chief again by taking on the position of Campaign Project Lead for Halo Infinite and later accepting the position of Head of Creative.
Staten’s departure from 343 Industries at the beginning of 2023 seems to be the culmination of that restructuring, which saw him completely leave the studio to rejoin Xbox Publishing. Since then, Microsoft has experienced a large number of layoffs and job cuts.
According to reports, 10,000 jobs were lost in late January, and more were lost a few weeks later in February. For the time being, Halo Infinite, which recently debuted Season 3 with new maps, game modes, weapons, and more, seems to be moving forward at full speed.
Halo Infinite is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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