Halo and Destiny lead writer leaves Bungie

Joseph Staten, lead writer of the original Halo, Halo 2, and the upcoming Destiny, has left Bungie.

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Joseph Staten, lead writer of the original Halo, Halo 2, and the upcoming Destiny, has left Bungie. He worked with the studio for 15 years.

In an open letter to the community, Staten says that he's "leaving to tackle new creative challenges." He says that his departure won't affect Destiny, having worked on the game for the past four years. "Our hugely talented team is on track for greatness," he said. "I'll be cheering all of them, with all of you, when the game launches next year."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
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    September 24, 2013 3:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Halo and Destiny lead writer leaves Bungie.

    Joseph Staten, lead writer of the original Halo, Halo 2, and the upcoming Destiny, has left Bungie.

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      September 24, 2013 6:02 PM

      Well, that's too bad. The writing in Halo was what really set it apart from the rest of the generic FPS games of the time.

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        September 24, 2013 6:04 PM

        I never really thought about it but you are 100% correct. Halo is one of the few action games with a story that I found at all interesting.

        Even after I stopped playing the games (no console, little interest) I kept up with the story.

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        September 24, 2013 6:11 PM

        yeah. Sad news.

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        September 24, 2013 10:36 PM

        I am wholly embarrassed - apparently I did not apply a readily apparent thickness of 'sarcasm' to my original post.

        To those who thought I was serious, I apologize.

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          September 24, 2013 11:22 PM

          The Halo universe is probably the single best fleshed out FPS setting there is. Granted, a majority of that happens in the novels (which are surprisingly good), but there's a reasonable amount of that to be found in the games too.

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            September 24, 2013 11:48 PM

            The games themselves aren't very well written, though. In fact, they're terribly written.

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            September 25, 2013 7:09 AM

            Granted, there may be a lot of story within the games - but to be honest, I had been so consistently bored with the game design that I never progressed far enough to discover any story of value.

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          September 25, 2013 8:18 AM

          HEH, I was going to say...This is the ultimate br0 gamer game.

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          September 25, 2013 8:20 AM

          For those about to lol, we salute you

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          September 25, 2013 8:23 AM

          well, can you name a modern FPS series with better writing? note that complexity of plot is not "good writing".

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            September 25, 2013 8:26 AM

            Evil D, are you trying to defend br0 gaming?

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              September 25, 2013 8:28 AM

              i'm defending a series i've enjoyed a great deal. the bros are just a side-effect that i tend to ignore.

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                September 25, 2013 8:35 AM

                You can still enjoy the gameplay despite the poor writing.

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                  September 25, 2013 8:38 AM

                  i don't think it has poor writing. i think the writing is as good or better than most FPS writing (which generally sucks).

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                    September 25, 2013 8:39 AM

                    that's a pretty low bar to hurdle

                  • gmd legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury mega
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                    September 25, 2013 8:54 AM

                    the back story for halo is great

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                    September 25, 2013 9:45 AM

                    Yup, agreed. I'd like to know what about the story as presented in the games is "bad writing", given the first person perspective?

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              September 25, 2013 8:34 AM

              I really don't count Halo as Br0 gaming, Crustar. Well, not in the CoD sense anyway. At least the story in Halo is so much better.

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                September 25, 2013 8:35 AM

                D -> K, fair enough. Maybe the multiplayer aspect is just for the br0 gamer.

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              September 25, 2013 10:25 AM

              HEH @ the ugh.

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            September 25, 2013 8:36 AM

            Most have shit writing, that doesn't somehow make Halo's writing good.

            I thought Bioshock had a good story though.

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          September 25, 2013 11:31 PM

          Ha, ha, nice one.

          Halo is to story telling what jello is to nutrition.

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        September 25, 2013 8:11 AM

        I had a lot of fun with Halo but I couldn't describe the plot to anyone. Super soldier fights aliens aided by an AI. That's about it.

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          September 25, 2013 8:25 AM

          ya pretty much. most games are like this and I remember stories i've read decades ago. fps video games arent the greatest story telling medium

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      September 24, 2013 11:42 PM

      lead WRITER in a videogame... maybe he honed his writing skills and got hired at buzzfeed.

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      September 24, 2013 11:56 PM

      Boo at the Halo games.

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      September 25, 2013 8:03 AM

      While this guy helped create an awesome game world -- I found the story telling in Halo 4 to be the best of the Halo in game story delivers.

      The Halo books are very entertaining also.

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      September 25, 2013 8:16 AM

      [deleted]

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      September 25, 2013 8:53 AM

      [deleted]

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      September 26, 2013 2:19 AM

      Hopefully this isn't a lead up to a Diablo III where they lose all the original members of the team.

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