Call of Duty loses one of its longest-serving developers as David Vonderhaar leaves Treyarch

One of Call of Duty's longest-serving and best-known developers, David Vonderhaar, is leaving Treyarch and Activision for new pastures.

Whilst he stopped short of revealing what studio or game had tempted them away – Vonderhaar could only say that they were staying in the games industry, "working on an undisclosed project they can't discuss yet" – the developer thanked both their colleagues and the community for their support over the last 18 years. 

"Today I am sharing that I have left Activision and Treyarch after an incredible 18 years and 8 Call of Duty games," Vonderhaar said via their LinkedIn profile.

"To my co-workers at Treyarch, 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."

As for the community? Vondehaar thanked players for their "passion and enthusiasm". 

"That energy has often fueled our determination as a studio and individuals," Vonderhaar added. "I will always be grateful for the opportunity to interact with so many of you directly online and in person. This energy will always be a massive part of me."

Vonderhaar finished by saying that they were moving on to work on "a rare and unique opportunity".

Earlier this week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) was finally fully unveiled, with a trailer giving fans their first glimpse of the FPS in action. A November 10 release date was also confirmed, which means we have just three short months to wait.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Modern Warfare 3 (2023) is a direct sequel to Modern Warfare 2 (2022), with the former's campaign picking up exactly when its predecessor's left off. New to Modern Warfare 3 (2023) is the addition of ‘open combat missions’, which will face players with a number of choices regarding how they approach certain story quests. 

As suspected, it also features all 16 launch maps from the original Modern Warfare 2 (2009), although each one has been modernized with new modes to get stuck into, such as the competitive 3v3v3 mode, Cutthroat. Expect over 12 totally fresh 6v6 arenas will be introduced in post-launch seasons, too.

Will Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 make our list of the best shooters on PC and the best FPS games?