Joseph Staten, a former Bungie employee who worked on the first three Halo games and was recently brought on to assist in the development of Halo Infinite, is departing from Microsoft. This was confirmed by Microsoft to IGN and confirmed by Staten himself on Twitter. Staten expressed gratitude towards his Xbox colleagues for their support as he embarks on a new journey.
Staten joined the Halo Infinite team at 343 Industries in August 2020 after leaving Xbox’s global publishing division. He assisted in releasing the game in December 2021, but it faced some setbacks after launch, such as campaign co-op and Forge mode delays that postponed their launch until November 2022. After layoffs at 343 Industries, Staten left the company in January to return to Xbox’s publishing division before ultimately leaving Microsoft altogether.