Halo Infinite is bringing on one of the most veteran developers in Halo’s history. Developer 343 Industries has confirmed that Joseph Staten–who wrote Bungie’s original Halo, as well as Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Reach–is joining the Halo Infinite team as its project lead for the campaign.
Staten’s title at Microsoft is senior creative director, and in that position, he helps numerous developers on their projects. He recently helped finish Tell Me Why, which is out soon, and now he will contribute to Halo Infinite. “The team has been working hard realizing our vision for campaign and we’re happy to have Joseph’s help to get it to the finish line,” 343 said in a blog post.
The statement added: “Joseph will be focused on supporting the campaign team’s existing, talented, creative leaders and ensuring they have everything they need to create an awesome Halo game.”
Staten will work on Halo Infinite “for a bit,” according to the statement, so this is seemingly a temporary position. From the sound of it, Staten is coming aboard to help finish Halo Infinite in a similar fashion to when Rod Fergusson joined the BioShock Infinite team as a “closer” to help get that game out the door.
In addition to his work on the Halo series, Staten was the writer and co-creative director on Bungie’s Destiny. He also worked with Lord of the Rings movie director Peter Jackson on the Halo movie, though it eventually all fell apart.
Writing on Twitter, Staten said he expects to stay quiet, so don’t expect to hear much from him about his involvement with Halo Infinite.
343 has also confirmed that The Master Chief Collection’s head of publishing, Pierre Hintze, has joined the Halo Infinite development team as well as the project lead for Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer. “He and his team have demonstrated an amazing ability to deliver new content, an excellent flighting program, and substantive updates across MCC over the past year,” 343 said. “We look forward to having his expertise directly on the Halo Infinite team as we look to deliver a quality free-to-play multiplayer experience for everyone.”
343 also reiterated in its blog post that you should only trust Microsoft when it comes to news about Halo Infinite.
“Over the past two weeks we’ve seen the internet fabricate numerous stories and fake ‘leaks’ that have made people … scratch their heads,” 343 said. “From rumors of dropping support for the Xbox One to releasing the game in 2022, there seem to be new headlines popping up every day. As we get closer to sharing more and more news, please only trust statements that are made by official Halo channels, members of our studio leadership, or members of the Community Team.”
343 recently delayed Halo Infinite from holiday 2020 to an unspecified date in 2021. The company pushed the game to next year due in part to development complications related to COVID-19 and the impact of working from home.
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