Joseph Staten, creative director of Halo Infinite and cinematographer on the first three Halo games, is leaving Microsoft, the company confirmed to IGN.
In his letter, Microsoft did not say where Staten was going next, or why he left Microsoft after nine years.
A statement from a Microsoft spokesperson read, “We are grateful for Joseph’s contributions to the Halo franchise and to Xbox as a whole. We wish him all the best in his new adventure. »
Staten has long been one of the most popular names behind the Halo franchise, having served as cinematic director for Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3, and having served as lead writer for Destiny while Bungie was around.
Eventually, he left Bungie to work at Microsoft and serve as Senior Creative Director, initially avoiding working on Halo 343 to focus on developing franchise strategy for Microsoft Studios titles. He returned to the franchise in 2020 as a campaign project manager, then creative director, overseeing Halo Infinite. He then joined Xbox Publishing earlier this year around the same time Microsoft announced layoffs of 10,000 employees, including 343. Staten has also written a number of Halo-universe novels.
Staten declined to comment for this article.
Rebecca Valentine is a reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @employee.
“Zombie-loving evangelist. Incurable creator. Proud pioneer of Twitter. Food lover. Internetaholic. Hardcore introvert. »
