At the start of this year when Microsoft announced mass layoffs and some changes within the Xbox division, it was also revealed Halo Infinite's Head of Creative Joseph Staten would be rejoining Xbox Game Studios Publishing.
It's admittedly been quite hard for some fans to accept, but now it seems his move back to this part of the Xbox team is well and truly complete. As highlighted on Reddit, Joe has now updated his Twitter profile - appearing to reconfirm his departure. His role is now officially "partner and creative director at Xbox Publishing":
@joestaten: "Partner, Creative Director at @XboxPublishing."
In other words, if you were hoping to see him help out with Halo Infinite a little more, he really has left 343 Industries now. Joe's time with the Halo series goes back to the Bungie days when he worked on the earlier entries as a cinematic director and writer.
Joe's profile update aligns with the release of Halo Infinite Season 3 yesterday. Earlier before, he mentioned how proud he was of the team at 343 and was excited about what's coming next:
Joe originally announced his return to the Halo series back in 2020 - mentioning at the time how he would be supporting the campaign team and guiding the overall development of the game as project lead. Before this move, Joe had been a part of Xbox Game Studios since 2014.