Longtime Call of Duty developer David Vonderhaar departs Treyarch

Call of Duty developer Treyarch has bid farewell to studio design director David Vonderhaar. On LinkedIn, he wrote that he was departing the studio to pursue a "a rare and unique opportunity" and a currently unknown project.

"To my co-workers at Treyarch," he said, "I am immensely grateful for the time we invested working to improve our craft, never sitting on successes, and always wondering how to improve what we design and how we produce it."

Vonderhaar joined Treyarch in late 2004. The studio first came onto Call of Duty with 2005's Call of Duty: Big Red One, and has been a co-developer of the franchise ever since. The most recent game it led development on was 2020's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. 

When it isn't working on a mainline entry, Treyarch is helping with the Zombies or Warzone multiplayer modes for a separate installment, as is the case with Sledgehammer Games' upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.  

"Farewell to the legendary David Vonderhaar, whose discipline, creativity & innovation helped shape our games," wrote Treyarch on Twitter. "Excited for your next adventure."

This year's mainline Call of Duty game was originally meant to be a Treyarch entry, but that's since been pushed to 2024 out of an alleged fear of oversaturation.