“Hello folks, I am indeed leaving Microsoft,” said Staten. “I’ll have more information to share soon, but for now I want to thank all my @Xbox colleagues for all their understanding and support as I embark on a new adventure.”

Staten switched from Xbox global publishing to the Halo infinity development team at 343 Industries in August 2020, by which time the game had already been pushed back to 2021 from its original launch date in November 2020. He helped get Unending out the door in December 2021, but the game had some post-launch issues, including campaign co-op and Forge mode delays, resulting in them not launching until November 2022.

In January, Staten left 343 Industries after studio layoffs to rejoin Xbox’s publishing division. Now he is leaving Microsoft altogether.

Update April 7, 10:01 PM ET: Tweet from States added.