We've got some breaking news coming out of Microsoft about Joseph Staten. After recently exiting Halo Infinite and moving back to Xbox Game Studios Publishing, the Halo veteran has now announced he'll be leaving the tech giant.
Microsoft didn't reveal where exactly Joe is off to but thanked him for his contributions to the Halo series and the Xbox brand over the years. Since the initial report, Staten has also confirmed his own departure (via social media) - reiterating how he is definitely moving on from Microsoft to embark on a new adventure, with more information to share soon.
The Halo veteran previously returned to the series in 2020 joining 343 Industries as project lead for the Halo Infinite campaign and then went back to Xbox Publishing as a partner and creative director last month.
He started out his game career at Bungie in the late '90s, working on the Halo series alongside Microsoft as a writer and director of cinematics. Following this, he assisted Bungie with Destiny as a writer and co-creative director and then returned to Microsoft in 2014 as a Senior Creative Director for Xbox Game Studios.
We'll update this story if we hear any further developments.
[source ign.com]
Comments 49
Lol 2014 not to sound rude but cmon he’s not there since halo evolve or halo 2 even halo 4 so I’m not sure what did he really contribute with every release pretty much declining
Halo is dead, the sooner we accept that the better.
And don’t get me wrong, I have played Halo Infinite for almost 300 hours and already completed the campaign twice and all the battle passes because I love the gameplay but the game feels dead right now, half the matches have issues of one player randomly disconnecting and the bot is never replaced with another player, matchmaking is literally broken and even sometimes the game just crashes suddenly, so it’s not even 2 years old and it already feels as if it’s on life support which is baffling for such an iconic franchise, I don’t even get mad anymore to see the state of Halo it literally makes me sad.
@TheSimulator He joined Halo again after Halo Infinite went down in flames, so he wasn't involved in Halo 4, Halo 5 or Halo Wars 2. Halo Infinite also joined after the postponement announcement.
Well, Staten wasn't on my key Xbox personel bingo card. Props to whoever got that one.
@TheSimulator he was a cinematics and mission dialogue writer for halo 2 and 3. So he was there for some of the good bits but not sure what he's been involved in for the rest of that time like. Doubt he will go back to bungie, not much of bungie left and by the sounds of it most of the old guard got ditched for bullying and sexual harassment.
@SplooshDmg seems like he had a good run, 20 odd years, not many industry folks stay at one place that long. Wish him all the best 👍
Good luck for the future 👍🏻
not a great news but i still wish him the best.
Halo as a franchise is dead. Its no longer as popular as it once was. It does still have a few die hard fans but majority of xbox gamers don't really care for it and the evidence can be seen in the number Players who play halo Infinite online on a daily basis.
Props to all the "Halo is dead" comments, right next to the YouTubers who say they are done with Halo since Halo 5 in 2015 and they are still there.
Halo can be fully alive and magnificent again.
They just need to make the game right a bring a top end AAA Halo game like the original Halo back in the day.
@BrilliantBill Gamers relationship with Halo, as well as Destiny, is an abusive relationship.
@AverageGamer I think I can also vouch the same for R6 Siege. The game has been "dead" according to people for ages. Heck, even in Halo 5 you can find a match super quick today.
@BrilliantBill
Ah yes the classic "I'm done with this series! Dead game!" and yet continue to play that series for years to come gamer. Street Fighter V had the same folks saying that five years later and yet they continued playing and are hyped over the moon for 6.
I never understood why people love to call an online game "dead". If the servers go offline then you could call it that but if people call Halo Infinite dead that's just silly. Has it had issues? Sure but it's far from dead I'd say.
@TheSimulator He was with Bungie since before Halo CE and left after Destiny 1 year 1.
If he has a massive hand in season 3 and all the stuff they've done then yeah it might be a hit for Halo. But if this is all the work of the current folks in charge I don't think it's actually anything major. Season 3 has been great but the key will be for them to have a great season 4 in that 90 day window and then have season 5 in another 90 days. They can't have that content drought anymore.
@BrilliantBill with CoD on games pass by year end, it could well signal 'the end' of Halo. Games pass is going to be stacked with MP shooters, plus the f2p ones. something will lose out. Halo is struggling already, to be fair it has had a very good run over the years.
@Korgon I think compared to back in Halo 2 and Halo 3 era where it was the undisputed king of console FPS yeah, it is kinda dead today. But just on its own Infinite is far from dead.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner I don't think CoD being on GP changes how much effect CoD has on success of Halo on Xbox. Halo will never be able to compete with CoD because Cod has a dozen studios putting out games every year, often the games are the best MP and in some years even the best SP campaign experience you can get.
Halo's problems are more between the game and its own dedicated fanbase and their opinion of the game.
Halo is not dead. 343 decided to not do a BR and it was a bad decision.
@BrilliantBill Plenty of times Microsoft has chose to kill off their own stuff so they can acquire their bigger competitors in that space. Like that time they killed off Mixer so they could try and acquire TikTok.
Killing off Halo to be able to own CoD seems very much a Microsoft-esque decision.
Halo itself really took over from the Arena Shooters like Quake and also from Goldeneye - setting the 'standard' by which all other FPS games that came after copied and/or built upon.
During the 360 era, not only did we see 'Bungie' depart from Halo, but also the growth of Call of Duty and Battlefield that became the 'Halo' killer. In recent years, the rise of Battle Royale modes were impacting on CoD, but Activision released Warzone to 'compete' and keep 'relevant' in the current FPS climate where Fortnite, PUBG and Apex succeed. Even Destiny is 'better' than Halo now because Halo is still clinging to its 'roots' as an Arena style shooter when they are not that 'popular' today. Doom too isn't that popular online today but everyone still loved the campaign.
I couldn't care less about Halo as a Multi-player game - it was never 'great'. When CoD4 came out, I stopped playing ANY Halo MP and would rather play more 'grounded' FPS games than floaty, shielded arena shooters like Halo. CoD killed Halo years ago as far as I am concerned and wish they'd focus more on the Story as that is still 'great'
@BAMozzy I also think best course of action for Halo is to really tightly focus on being a AAA single player experience and be the type of game that wins GOTY awards. But sadly Microsoft is probably pivoting it to the exact opposite after firing all the campaign people.
The idea of that Tatanka game however basically shows that to some degree they know Halo cannot survive just off of its roots (including spin-offs with Halo Wars).
@IOI @Chaudy As a massive historic fan of the Halo franchise, if it is time to let it die, then I’m actually okay with that as long as they FINISH Chief’s story. I’m okay with going the route of finishing out this new story in one or two more games, and Chiefs run ending in an epic battle with the Banished and the Endless. Then just go the route of side stories within the Universe.
Basically, let’s end the Chief “saga” in a satisfying way so that I can go back every so often and marathon the saga story, which will have a beginning, middle, and most importantly, END. If Halo is to die, let’s not leave it on a cliffhanger.
@BrilliantBill I don't know - in a few months MS would own a number of FPS franchises that they could decide that Halo would be better served for its story mode than keep trying to make a MP to 'compete' against CoD, Doom, Quake etc.
The one thing that Halo uniquely has is the Story, the characters, the lore etc and therefore they could focus on 'Story' and either keep building on Halo:Infinite or MCC MP's as the 'Halo' Multi-player (both established and could be the Halo MP suite) - updating and remaking Maps to keep them 'modernised/up to date' with Forge too adding to the suite of Halo MP options/experiences - just release new 'Campaigns' instead of splitting development between multiple modes. A 'small' team can focus on Halo's existing MP for those that still enjoy the Halo MP and expand/develop those so people don't have to keep starting from scratch again and nothing they 'bought' carries over...
CoD, for example, could just be 'CoD:Online' and ditch the Campaign - relying on its MP and Warzone modes to bring in revenue and provide the FPS MP experience so Halo can become more Story focussed.
Time will tell, but I don't necessarily think that MS will keep trying to push Halo MP to compete against Apex, Fortnite, CoD, PUBG, Battlefield etc when they would own 'CoD' & Warzone and may decide to focus on Single Player to get them in to Xbox ecosystem.
@TheSimulator
Not to be rude...
Well what you said was certainly rude, n more so just show how little you know about him or his contributions to Halo.
I hope he starts a studio n not just go back to Bungie.
@Grumblevolcano
MS killed Mixer so they could attempt to acquire TokTok in your opinion??
LOL Yeah... Okay.
@xboxjapanfan
He joined Halo infinite about 6 months before the game was initially going to release. Then they pushed it a year.
When Halo Infinite first came out it was not already in flames as you say. It got good metacritic scores and the majority of players thought the MP felt better than it had since the original trilogy.
I bet he is planning to start his own studio.
@Tharsman This is probably correct… with all the other Halo staffers that recently left. Watch the controversy if he works with Sony…
It is interesting that so many high profile staffers have left 343, Microsoft, and the Halo since Infinite. I am genuinely curious where the series will go to pivot into a hopefully more critically successful future.
@BrilliantBill it’s dead in quality and spirit(and popularity)
halo reach was the last good halo game , and i still play halo just not infinite/4/5 .
@somnambulance THREE garbage games IN A ROW & trash spartan assault ; i’m genuinely curious how many times you can kill a franchise and still keep going instead of making something else .
@Stoned_Patrol people are short-sighted and can’t think ahead , it was clear from the beginning that infinite was a dud
@BAMozzy you missed out on reach then 😂
@TheSimulator are you saying Halo 5 is the peak of the Halo series? Because Staten was there for all the other ones
@nomither6 Nope - but I certainly didn't buy it for its MP...
@nomither6 Garbage games, huh? Did you play through the last three Halo games?
For me, Halo 4 had the gameplay tweaks that made sense to pivot Halo into the future, despite a dull campaign. Multiplayer was excellent. Halo 5 was mediocre in most ways, but still better gameplay wise than many other shooters. And Infinite improved gameplay yet again and was wildly fun in the campaign, despite a narrative that was largely incoherent. Multiplayer was admittedly garbage. Halo’s had its troubles, but it’s been far from being garbage. Worst the series has gotten is Infinite’s multiplayer, imo, but even that’s 6/10 tier. There’s never been a 3/10 or 4/10 tier Halo game.
@IOI I've never experienced any of the problems you mention with Halo Infinite and I've played daily since launch.
@somnambulance Infinite multiplayer is far from garbage. Just lacks content. Which is something the ActivisionBlizzard purchase can help improve upon. All those CoD support studio can help with content 🤣
@Floki I’ve definitely thought the Activision purchase would place Halo in Treyarch’s hands or something like that. This is how Xbox can exclusivize CoD style content while giving a 10 year contract to everyone under the Sun.
Also, perhaps garbage is a harsh term. It’s just really clearly light on content and it peaked in beta. The progression system IS garbage though. Or it was last time I played it.
Reboot! Reboot! Reboot!
As much as I loved Halo Infinite, it's not doing well at all and its EU is super messy (and this is from someone who looooves Halo 4 and ships Cortana/John). Wasn't Joseph Staten hired to help save Halo? At this point I think it would be for the best if a team from Activision took over Halo or they did a reboot rather than try to hammer all the broken pieces and narrative dead ends into place.
@somnambulance Treyarch is definitely who I would hope that handles halo in the future. Shutdown the developer side of 343, and keep whatever left around to handle licensing of the Halo properties to third-party developers and lore side of halo… Because just have them go back to what they was originally doing.
@somnambulance in comparison to reach, 3 , halo 2 & CE, 343 games really pale in comparison whether if it’s the campaign or multiplayer , why play them over bungies? I agree about Halo 4 and would take it further and say that it has the best halo gameplay feel in the series , but that isn’t enough compared to how much is underwhelming about it . Halo 5 isn’t even halo , just make a new ip at that point & infinite is a identity crisis that’s bland in all directions .
bungie set the standards high , so i think garbage is appropriate .
@Floki @nomither6 Why play them? Because maybe you’d want to keep playing Halo with more modernized gameplay perhaps? Even if the games aren’t as good in comparison with other games in their retrospective eras, doesn’t mean they’re trash, you know?
Bungie did something outstanding for the era, but the series has justified its existence past Reach. It could fix itself.
I’d also argue that Treyarch would be a good option, but honestly Treyarch doesn’t really make compelling campaigns either. I like 343’s campaigns more than CoD campaigns. They succeed in MP though, which is half the fight for a good Halo game. Maybe a multi-studio effort is the future for the series?
@somnambulance the MCC feels pretty modern to me. halos gameplay was always super simple so how much can you modernize it beyond sprinting, without changing the core formula and screwing up like 343 did? they had it right with reach by leaving the extras to power-pickups or ability loadouts. aside from making sprint be basekit, i can't think of anything else good that came of ''modernizing'' halo as you say; adding aim-down-sights in halo(5) was terrible, and aiming without ADS unless using scope weapons which still isnt really ADS ,was a core part of halo.
"Even if the games aren’t as good in comparison with other games in their retrospective eras, doesn’t mean they’re trash, you know?" - In my opinion it is. if you had something great , why settle for less? i only want things to be just as good or better instead of going backwards, that doesnt make sense to me. If its not better or up to par, discard it. I don't get people who big-up devs or give them a pass for something we all know is a mediocre product, that only entices them to keep the cycle going and never improving.
''Bungie did something outstanding for the era, but the series has justified its existence past Reach. It could fix itself.''
''I’d also argue that Treyarch would be a good option, but honestly Treyarch doesn’t really make compelling campaigns either.'' - call of duty world at war & black ops 1 had great campaigns. but that treyarch is long gone i bet , people move around a lot.
''I like 343’s campaigns more than CoD campaigns.'' - I can't think of a single 343 game with a campaign on par with the OG modern warfare 1/2 , black ops 1, world at war, advanced warfare; but to each their own. Halo 4 campaign i have a love hate relationship with. loved it at first, replayed it recently- its pretty boring and not how i remembered but its still the least worst of any 343 games in my opinion.
'' They succeed in MP though, which is half the fight for a good Halo game. '' - please elaborate on this one, i really don't get how their multiplayer is good. theyre the infinity ward of halo games with awful maps.
Wouldn't surprise me if halo just got put under Activision and became part of their roster. Lot of synergies to be had there I reckon
@nomither6 aiming down sights and dedicated sprint are both essentials to games in 2023. I love the old games, for sure, but they do feel like they’re “of a time now past” because they lack those items. It’s certainly easier to just jump into a 343 game. Also, 343 did some tweaking to the MCC titles in making them a bit more user friendly.
The argument that MS should’ve stopped making Halo games because Bungie was done is silly though. They were done because they were ready to try something new with Destiny. If Bungie would’ve stayed under the MS banner, who knows what would’ve happened. They very well could’ve continued with Halo or split their time with Halo and Destiny. It’s impossible to say. There’s the possibility Bungie might have “fallen from grace” if that occurred. I don’t necessarily blame 343 for the state of Halo. It’s clear they were being pulled I multiple directions with Infinite from above and it didn’t yield the result it could have. I don’t believe the narrative that 343 has just ruined Halo. Based on what staffers have said, I do think MS has intervened to the detriment of the series from time to time, when Bungie had more free rein.
With regards to Treyarch vs 343 campaigns, I’d compare the campaigns of the same time period. Bungie was competing with OG MW and most certainly beating them. I’d take Halo 4 over any CoD campaign post-World at War. However, for me, CoD has always been MP first, campaign second for me. Treyarch understands pacing better than 343, but 343 has access to more interesting “lore.” A synergy between Activision and 343 could yield some remarkable results for Halo. As MP CoD is concerned, the series is still largely fairly solid on that front. While they’ve certainly had higher peaks than the recent titles, when CoD at such high frequency, I don’t necessarily expect them to have huge steps forward with each release. If they were given proper development time with Halo, however, that could dig Treyarch out of their rut for another World at War tier MP experience.
@somnambulance ''aiming down sights and dedicated sprint are both essentials to games in 2023.'' -i said other than sprint, any other addition to halo just detached it from its roots. overwatch has no universal ADS for all characters and yet its more popular and has been more popular than halo for years. ADS is not needed in games, and free-aiming is arguably better than ADS , better field of view and better movement. Halo (infinite) is still played more without using ADS anyway just to prove my point even more. no ADS is halo.
''It’s certainly easier to just jump into a 343 game. '' - its easier to jump into halo 5 and infinite than it is into halo 2 and 3? yikes.
''The argument that MS should’ve stopped making Halo games because Bungie was done is silly though.'' - no its not. M$ had nothing to do with bungies creation and intellectual property; if the creators of the very franchise wants to end it then how on earth does it not make any sense to end it? who knows the franchise better than the people who thought of it, designed, and directed it? everyone agrees halo is a product of its time , and makes absolute sense to have ended it in its era- 2010. it had a 10 year run, and ran the 2000's decade.
'' I don’t necessarily blame 343 for the state of Halo.'' -because your biased for them. you're being unreasonable with your rebuttals. 343 hasnt made a single good halo game with a good campaign, content, and multiplayer - not ONE. this isn't just only my opinion, an overwhelming majority of people agree. 343 sucks and many of their own employees and top figureheads quit, i mean come on dude.
''I do think MS has intervened to the detriment of the series from time to time'' -343 IS a microsoft studio.
as far as the COD talk , were talking about halo here, but COD has been more consistent than halo since 2010 on all fronts so it doesnt even matter. im going by majority vs minority instead of only just our individual opinions .
@nomither6 I’ll give you the win on this one because I read your response and started wondering why I was arguing in defense of 7/10 tier titles. When you said I’m biased toward 343, I said to myself, “Why am I doing this?” Much like most others, I can admit Halo’s been on a slope, but at the end of the day, I think there’s some redeeming factors in the last three games and potential for a better future for the series.
@somnambulance i hope so , thank god for the MCC and their continued support of it , somewhat .
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