Former Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer design director, David Vonderhaar, has teased his next game and it sounds nothing like Call of Duty. In an interview with Bloomberg, Vonderhaar confirmed that he is not making another military shooter like Call of Duty and instead described it as “if David Lynch made shooters.” It’ll be a co-op game that isn’t aiming to compete with Call of Duty, as players will be teaming up to face environmental challenges while combating other players. As of right now, the title for the game has yet to be revealed.
Vonderhaar left Treyarch in 2023, a year before the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. It was a shock for fans, as Vonderhaar was one of the key minds behind some of the greatest Call of Duty games, such as Black Ops 2. Shortly after his departure, he opened a new studio known as BulletFarm. The team had been working on its first game since 2024, but it seems like the game has been scrapped in favor of a different project.
It was confirmed today that BulletFarm has joined forces with GreaterThan Group, a new holding firm also backing Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. The firm was founded by an ex-NetEase executive named Simon Zhu. NetEase was previously backing both Bullet Farm and a project made by Fate of the Old Republic director Casey Hudson, but ultimately pulled funding, resulting in the demise of both games. However, Zhu formed his own company to try to make something with the talented people behind those projects.
The team at BulletFarm has yet to give firm details on their next game, but spoke confidently about it on X. “BulletFarm lives. Same name. Same DNA. Same commitment to the player experience,” said the post. “We’re in the early stages of creating a completely new first-person multiplayer/co-operative experience under the GTG banner, with high-intensity action, systemic gameplay, and cinematic immersion at its core.”
Vonderhaar told Bloomberg was disappointed to lose two years of work on the past game, but he has high ambitions for this next game. BulletFarm’s game is aiming to release within three years and won’t require hundreds of developers or a bloated budget. Currently, fewer than 50 people are working on the game. It’ll likely be a while before we get a proper glimpse at the game, but hopefully, it’ll be fresh and manage to convince a jaded market of gamers who aren’t easily sold by any ol’ shooter these days.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
