Joseph Staten, one of the men behind creating Halo and Destiny, announced his departure from Bungie after 15 years at the studio.
The news was revealed on the studio’s official website, when Staten published the below farewell statement:
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Dear community friends,
After fifteen great years at Bungie, from the battlefields of Myth to the mysteries of Halo and beyond, I’m leaving to tackle new creative challenges. While this may come as a surprise, fear not. It’s been my pleasure building Destiny these past four years, and after the big reveal this Summer, our hugely talented team is on track for greatness. I’ll be cheering all of them, with all of you, when the game launches next year. Thank you for your support of me, and your continued support of Bungie. We couldn’t have done it without you.
Per Audacia Ad Astra!
Joseph Staten
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Many would agree that Staten was one of the main faces of the studio. He could be seen in most Bungie ViDocs and behind-the-scenes videos. Also, Staten was present at a lot of the events Bungie attended, including this past E3 to demonstrate Destiny on-stage at the Sony conference and to press like myself.
He is a man of many talents who heavily influenced the games he worked on. Staten served as a writer and cutscene cinematics director on the Halo games and wrote one of Halo’s official novels, Contact Harvest. He even voiced Halo’s enemy Covenant Grunts.
As a longtime Bungie fan myself, it’s sad to see the studio lose one of its greatest contributors. Hopefully, Staten’s departure won’t compromise the quality of Destiny.