Shake-up at Halo developer 343 Industries

Halo developer 343 Industries had undergone a shake-up at the top - and released a piece of concept art that may offer our first glimpse at Halo for Xbox One.

Former creative director Josh Holmes is now executive producer, heading up the internal development team. Holmes is responsible for "overall project leadership and business ownership", he explained in a post on Halo Waypoint.

Replacing him as creative director is Tim Longo, who joined in May 2013 from LucasArts. Longo worked on Tomb Raider, Star Wars: Republic Commando and the unreleased first-person shooter Star Wars: First Assault.

Ex-executive producer Kiki Wolfkill is still at 343 Industries, but is developing "exciting new stories, experiences and technologies that will transform the way that you experience Halo".

"She will have more to share at a later date, but I can promise that what she is working on is really cool," Holmes said.

Art director Kenneth Scott has moved to California (343 is based in Redmond, Washington), and so has become visual design consultant, working remotely. Replacing him is Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier, who moves up from the lead concept artist position.

Wrapping up his post, Holmes published an image drawn by Sparth, described as "an early exploration of a new location that features prominently in a little game project we're tinkering with..." Is it our first look at Halo 5?

Meanwhile, in other roundabout Halo news, Bungie veteran Joe Staten has returned to Microsoft Studios after leaving the Destiny developer last year.

Staten was the original writer of Bungie's Halo games (and voice of the grunts), and one of the brains behind Destiny, due out in September. He is now senior creative director at Microsoft Studios - although he's not working directly on Halo.