Joseph Staten, chief creative officer of Halo Infinite and cinematographer on the first three Halo games, is leaving Microsoft, the company confirmed to IGN.
In its letter, Microsoft did not say where Staten was going next, nor 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 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 been the cinematic director on Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3, and serving as the lead writer on 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 shaping the franchise strategy for Microsoft Studios’ titles. He returned to the franchise in 2020 as Campaign Project Lead and then Chief Creative Officer, overseeing Halo Infinite. He then rejoined 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 news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @tweet.