Joseph Staten simply left Microsoft. Technically it didn’t actually change something when speaking about the way forward for Halo in comparison with when he left Halo developer 343 Industries to return to his earlier position at Xbox Publishing again in January. That got here amidst the layoff-fueled shakeup on the studio that noticed many senior leads depart both at the moment or up to now yr since Halo Infinite first shipped. And but someway, his full severance from Microsoft feels a bit extra somber for this longtime Halo fan, as a result of it implies that he’s unlikely to have a lot, if any, affect on the way forward for the franchise – which he nonetheless may’ve from his Xbox Publishing perch.
And so whereas it’s truthful to surprise the place Halo is heading from right here – I’ll get to that in a bit – I wished to take the chance to precise my gratitude for somebody that had a significant hand in creating a few of my favourite video games of all time. Staten was a Bungie “Grizzled Historic,” the studio’s inner time period for somebody who’d been on the firm for a protracted, very long time. That is the person who wrote the unique Halo trilogy. You keep in mind, the near-perfect first recreation – the one whose memorable marketing campaign and characters single-handedly turned the Xbox into a significant participant within the console house – the neatly advised and stunning sequel that had you enjoying as The Arbiter for a part of the journey, and the trilogy capper that gave Grasp Chief and pals closure and which means whereas nonetheless leaving a glimmer of hope that Spartan-117 may at some point return. “Wake me… if you want me.”
However Staten wasn’t finished with Halo there. He adopted that by directing Halo 3: ODST, the movie noir-inspired Halo recreation that took you out of the MJOLNIR armor and into the boots of a regular-ol’ human. The Covenant unhealthy guys (properly, besides the Grunts… who, by the best way, had been voiced by Staten) appeared loads greater as an everyday individual than as a seven-foot-tall tremendous soldier. And all of it was set in a pseudo-open hub world the place you would go the place you wished to and revisit areas if you wished or wanted to. All the things was watched over by the mysterious Superintendent AI (“Maintain it clear!”), which, coincidentally, was additionally voiced by Staten. And the temper was set by Halo composer Marty O’Donnell’s jazz-inspired, piano-heavy soundtrack that made ODST really feel not like another Halo recreation. It’s, to this present day, nonetheless beloved by Halo followers and, for some, stays their favourite Halo recreation ever.
After which, after all, we get to Halo Infinite. Its six-year improvement cycle was messy, even simply from what we obtained to see publicly. And after the gameplay debut for the Xbox Collection X’s would-be day-one flagship launch title went infamously poorly, Microsoft took the daring and considerably embarrassing however completely vital step of delaying Infinite out of the Collection X’s launch window and bringing Joseph Staten into 343 because the challenge’s artistic director. Although I do know there are followers on the market who’d maintain Joseph accountable for making powerful choices like reducing split-screen co-op and delaying Forge – and as artistic director the buck stops with him – within the greater image, take a look at the place Halo was at earlier than Staten arrived (i.e. Craig) and take a look at the marketing campaign we finally obtained in December of 2021. We obtained an impressive single-player marketing campaign – one which soft-rebooted Halo whereas nonetheless persevering with Chief’s story. And one, I’d add, that efficiently washed the unhealthy style of Halo 5’s disastrous marketing campaign out of our mouths. No, Staten didn’t do it alone, however he nonetheless deserves quite a lot of credit score for pulling Halo Infinite collectively like he did.
Staten did not do it alone, however he nonetheless deserves quite a lot of credit score for pulling Halo Infinite collectively like he did.
And as I discussed earlier, Halo’s future is nonetheless murky. It appears extremely unlikely we’ll get any marketing campaign content material in any way – be it a side-story DLC with Blue Staff (as they’re talked about in an audio log) or a full-blown “Halo 7” – anytime within the subsequent a number of years or maybe extra. One other massive query is, “Who’s going to steer Halo into the long run?” It gained’t be Staten, whom I’d have trusted implicitly. As an alternative, it is likely to be a youthful technology of recreation improvement expertise at 343 – much like the younger weapons at id Software program efficiently reinventing Doom for the fashionable period in 2016 – or 343 may look to poach big-name expertise from different studios.
However that’s a dialog for one more day. For now, I’d like to precise my appreciation and gratitude to Joseph Staten for having such an enormous hand in creating a lot of the perfect Halo there’s ever been: Halo: Fight Advanced, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Infinite. That’s loads for him to be pleased with, and I’m so glad I obtained to play these video games as they got here out and benefit from the water-cooler dialog that every one generated – and discuss to him about his nice journey.
Take pleasure in your subsequent journey, Joseph, and thanks for the entire nice Halo.
