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The Fourth Curtain

Hope for the Future with Halo's Joe Staten

Mar 6, 2025
01:22:53

This week's guest is Halo and Destiny's Joe Staten. Beginning as a farmhand, he went on to lead teams in the Halo franchise, be on the core team for Destiny, write a NYT bestselling novel and work with the great Peter Jackson. Now looking for his next role, we discuss how Bungie was like a family business, the most important mysteries and creativity and risk - this week!

Episode Highlights – Joseph Staten on The Fourth Curtain Podcast

🎙️ Guest: Joseph Staten – Writer, Cinematics Director, Creative Director, NYT Bestselling Author, Voice Actor, and former Halo/Destiny dev.

07:50Introduction – Alex and Aaron welcome Joseph Staten and reminisce about their early days working together.
09:05Joseph’s Bungie Origins – How Alex took a chance on Joe and changed his career trajectory.
10:45From Theater to Game Development – Joe’s academic path from Northwestern University and how it shaped his approach to storytelling.
14:15Wine, Farm Work, and Video Games – How working at a family vineyard led to playing Myth and ultimately a job interview at Bungie.
15:22The Wild Flight to Bungie – Joe’s harrowing experience on ATA Airlines en route to his Bungie interview.
18:36Lessons from a Non-Traditional Career Path – Why diverse backgrounds create stronger game developers.
21:30The Importance of Curiosity and Hustle – How a self-starter mindset helped Joe navigate the game industry.
28:34The Journey to Creative Director – How Joe transitioned from Bungie’s publishing team to leading game development.
33:24Hard Lessons in Leadership – Learning to communicate effectively and navigate failure as a team leader.
37:58Building Trust in Game Development – Why trust is the foundation of every successful project.
40:06Playing Halo as a Fan – Joe’s experience playing Halo games he didn’t work on, starting with Halo: Reach.
46:03ODST’s Development Challenges – How Joe and Paul Bertone led a small team to ship Halo 3: ODST under intense constraints.
50:40Difficult Decisions in Game Development – The toughest calls made during ODST and Halo Infinite.
52:30The Scale of Halo Infinite – Managing 800+ developers and the challenges of finishing a large-scale game.
56:22Why Aren’t There More Marines? – A small but impactful design decision in Halo Infinite.
58:26The Future of AAA Games – Joe’s thoughts on the shifting industry landscape and what’s next for game dev.
1:05:19Iteration is Key to Success – Why persistence and iteration define the best games.
1:06:41Writing Halo: Contact Harvest – The experience of writing a New York Times bestseller while devel

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Shanglan (May) Li
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

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