Josh Holmes, studio head of first-person shooter development at 343 Industries, is leaving the Halo-focused studio.

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Speaking on Halo Waypoint , Holmes talked about his past seven years at 343 and explained why he's moving on."I have loved every moment here on Halo, but I find myself drawn to new horizons," he said."This month I’m leaving 343 Industries and excited for my next adventure to pursue independent game development," he continued.Before becoming a studio head at 343, Holmes served as the creative director of Halo 4 . With his departure, Chris Lee will take over in his place, previously having served as head of production on Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians."[Lee] is a tremendous leader and Halo is in great hands with him," Holmes wrote of his replacement, who also contributed to the Halo Waypoint post, saying "I am excited to continue shaping the future of this legendary franchise alongside our FPS team and the community that I love."Last year, IGN Unfiltered caught up with Holmes to talk about his video game career. For more on the Halo franchise, be sure to check out IGN's review of Halo 5

Evan Campbell is a freelance writer who scripts the Daily Fix , streams games on his Twitch channel , and chats about movies and TV series on Twitter