Joseph Staten, one of the original Halo architects who came late into the development of Halo Infinite to help land that all-important plane for Microsoft, has joined Netflix as Creative Director of Netflix Games. He is building a new AAA multi-platform game and original IP.
“In my work life, there’s nothing I love more than collaborating with others to build worlds full of iconic characters, deep puzzles, and endless adventures,” Staten told IGN. “Today, I’m excited to announce that I’ve joined Netflix Games as Creative Director of a brand-new multi-platform AAA game and original IP. Let’s get going!”
This comes after Staten first returned to the Xbox publishing house he was before joining 343 Industries as creative director of Halo Infinite following a recent shakeup at the Halo development studio, and then recently left Microsoft entirely. We now know he was slated to join Netflix, which has been quietly building up its game development arm, acquiring talented developers like Oxenfree developer Night School Studio.
Staten was an “antique grizzly” at Bungie, which means he’s been in the studio for an incredibly long time. At that time, he wrote the original Halo trilogy and directed Halo 3: ODST. He was also the original narrative director on Destiny before he left Bungie to join Microsoft in 2013.
I applauded his accomplishments with the franchise in the unlocked column last week.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and host of IGN’s Weekly Xbox Show, Open podcastplus the monthly (-ish) interview program, IGN without a filter. It’s a guy in North Jersey, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Discuss it with him on Twitter at @tweet.
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