[UPDATE] Microsoft has clarified that Ayoub was 343's Studio Head for strategy games. Bonnie Ross is 343's overall leader.

The original story is below.

A big staffing change has taken place at Halo series steward 343 Industries. Studio head Dan Ayoub, who worked on entries in the series dating back to 2009's Halo: Reach, has left the team.

He's leaving gaming altogether, but is staying within Microsoft to work on the Mixed Reality team. There, he will work in an effort for the "empowerment of education through technology."

"Although Dan will be staying in the Microsoft family, and won't be heading too far, our 343 family will miss his wit, wisdom and effort throughout the years," reads a line from 343's statement announcing his departure. "But Halo Wars 2 and its forthcoming DLC are in the safe hands of Dan's team, with some wonderful DLC and other surprises still to come."

The statement continues: "Over the years, Dan has helped us work with amazing studios and partners from literally every corner of the globe. They, like us are going to miss him, and Dan wanted us to express his thanks to both those partners, and to all the Halo fans and community who've been the fuel and fire that have ignited his passion and ambition, throughout the years."

Prior to joining Microsoft, Ayoub worked as a senior producer at Electronic Arts for four years, then was a game director Propaganda Games for two, according to his public LinkedIn profile page. He then spent a year at Ubisoft as an executive producer.

343's latest game is Halo Wars 2, which came out in February for Xbox One and PC. As the statement mentions, 343 continues to support the RTS with more post-launch content and updates.