According to sources, Joe Staten's role as director of the Halo Infinite campaign development team is being eliminated.
Following up on recent reports that Microsoft was laying off thousands of employees, sources now claim that 343 Industries, the company behind the Halo Infinite video game, has been particularly hard hit, with Director Joe Staten leaving the studio. It's no secret that the latest Halo game's development was problematic, and while many believe that things will get better as more post-launch DLC is released, it doesn't appear that the issues have been resolved just yet.
Particularly, before its release, Halo Infinite was marketed as a genuine live-service game. Campaign DLC and other significant additions were promised by 343 Industries as part of a comprehensive content plan, but they haven't yet been delivered in any substantial way. However, the most recent round of downsizing at Microsoft indicates significant changes are coming.
Jason Schreier claims that Joe Staten will leave 343 Industries and return to Xbox Publishing. Staten joined 343 initially to launch Halo Infinite and remained there ever since as a director. Staten began his career at Bungie, where he worked on the first few mainline Halo games and the original Destiny. Over the years, he accrued a number of writing and directing credits, and in 2014, he joined Microsoft as a senior creative director. Staten served as the campaign project lead for 343 Industries' Halo Infinite, so any information he may be leaving behind could be particularly troublesome for fans of the game's single-player mode.
Schreier emphasized this idea as well, stating that the campaign team at 343 Industries has generally been negatively impacted, even without Staten leaving the project. The job cuts at Microsoft's gaming studio portend a significant streamlining of the company's game development capabilities. In contrast to other affected studios, such as Bethesda, 343 Industries is in a particularly precarious position because its work on Halo Infinite's single-player content has disappointed the community.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made $54.95 million in total compensation last year
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 18, 2023
Given that Xbox recently experienced its best-ever quarter in Q1 2023, according to the company's own official reports, this information may cause some people a little whiplash. It's not a huge leap to assume that the current job cuts and production streamlining were already planned at the time the report was published, even though Microsoft's gaming division was reportedly profitable during the fiscal period, bringing in $3.61B.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Microsoft, a massive corporation, is now looking for ways to optimize its content pipelines and development capabilities given all of its recent gaming acquisitions. Though Staten's departure might not have an immediate impact, the loss of significant talent could be a major problem for studios like 343 Industries.
Halo Infinite is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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