Defining Duke, Episode 107 | Joe Staten Has Left 343 - A Major Shakeup Hits Halo (Patreon)

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced this week that Microsoft would see 10,000 layoffs by the end of March 2023. Among those affected are those working within Xbox and Bethesda. According to various reports, the teams impacted within the gaming division are both 343 Industries and Bethesda Game Studios. However, one person has chosen to leave and was Halo Infinite's last standing beacon of hope: Joseph Staten. Joe is the one responsible for getting the team in order at 343 to help "land the plane" in time for launch. It is clear now as more and more senior leadership makes their departure that 343 is facing the most restructuring of all the current first party studios. The Dukes get into the unfortunate layoffs as well as what the impact could be on games like Halo Infinite and Starfield. Otherwise, we have more insight on expected release dates for the Xbox's Developer_Direct which is set for next week and how High On Life 2 may no longer be in Xbox's best interests after recent developments involving Justin Roiland.

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:08:04 - Defining Duke Statistics

0:10:34 - A gas station PSA

0:11:46 - Some headphone advice

0:14:24 - Why won’t Cog play games?

0:27:52 - Starfield has been updated to “coming soon” on Steam

0:30:11 - It’s the one year anniversary of the Activision deal announcement

0:32:54 - Netease has turned down an extension on their publishing deal

0:33:41 - Everwild gets an update

0:34:57 - Is Level 5 coming back to the west?

0:35:57 - The Joint Fire Event in Halo Infinite is live

0:36:15 - Scalebound rumors are picking up

0:38:31 - Suicide Squad may be a live service game

0:43:00 - Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still in development

0:43:56 - Atomic Heart performance expectations have been released

0:45:51 - The Callisto Protocol missed its sales target and left developers out of the credits

0:49:29 - Halo Wars 2 cracked the UK Boxed Weekly Sales

0:50:31 - Persona 3, 4, and 5 are officially all on Xbox

0:50:55 - What we’ve been playing

1:04:33 - Could Contraband help Xbox’s second half of 2023?

1:07:44 - Which Microsoft property should get an HBO show?

1:13:46 - What will be more controversial; HogLeg or Six Days In Fallujah?

1:25:17 - Microsoft is laying off 10,000 employees

1:47:03 - Exciting updates will be at the Developer Direct

1:52:43 - Justin Roiland has been charged for domestic violence and accused of more

2:01:59 - Game Pass Pick of the Week

2:09:25 - What are our favorite midnight release memories?