Halo.. is changing.
Firstly, the former head of 343 Industries, Bonnie Ross, announced her departure. Then, we learnt about the layoffs and the Unreal Engine 5 switch . Now, Joseph Staten, a key figure in the Halo franchise, is also leaving.
After IGN made the announcement, Staten took to Twitter to confirm his departure from Microsoft and wished his former colleagues the best.
Staten has been involved in the Halo franchise for many years. He started as a cinematic director for the original trilogy. He then was a supervisor for Halo Infinite in 2020. In the meantime, he worked as the lead writer for the first Destiny game and later returned to Microsoft to work on exploiting the Microsoft Studios licenses (Xbox Game Studios). Since the beginning of 2023, he had gone back to the Xbox Game Studios publishing department and was no longer actively involved in the Halo franchise.
The reasons for his departure are still unknown. Though given the waves of layoffs at Microsoft, and what seems to be a full renewal for Halo, it feels somewhat logical to see him leave.
