Joseph Staten, head of creative for "Halo Infinite" and longtime writer at Bungie, is leaving Microsoft, the company confirmed to IGN (opens in new tab) Staten has had a difficult time developing "Destiny" In 2020, after the infamous initial release and year-long delay of "Halo Infinite," Staten joined 343 Industries to see the project through to completion. and oversaw the project's completion.

The initial goodwill surrounding the 2021 release of Infinite quickly cooled, and the game's first year was rough (opens in new tab); just as Infinite seemed to be getting off the ground, Microsoft announced that 10,000 employees, including 343 developers announced that they would be laid off (opens in new tab). At the same time, Staten left 343 to return to Xbox publishing. The move was short-lived.

"We are grateful for Joseph's contributions to the 'Halo' franchise and Xbox as a whole," Microsoft said in a statement to IGN. We wish him every success in his new adventure."

When Microsoft made the massive layoffs in March, one former 343 developer tweeted: 343 layoffs should never have happened and "Halo Infinite" should have been in better shape. The reason for both is that the incompetent leadership of upper management during the development of Halo Infinite put a lot of stress on the people working so hard to make Halo the best it could be." At the time, the layoffs hit Halo Infinite's single-player team particularly hard, and there was speculation (opens in new tab) that the change in leadership at 343 meant that existing plans for campaign DLC were scrapped.

Perhaps Staten was simply ready for something new. However, given his history of working on the narrative side of "Halo" development, it seems likely that the end of the 343 single player project was the catalyst for his departure.