Former Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer design director David Vonderhaar has officially teased his next major project, and the description suggests a stark departure from his military shooter legacy. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Vonderhaar revealed that his upcoming title is not another entry in the Call of Duty franchise. Instead, he described the ambitious new project as "if David Lynch made shooters."
This new direction marks a significant shift in tone and genre for Vonderhaar, who was one of the key creative minds behind some of the most iconic entries in the Call of Duty series, including Black Ops 2. While the specific title of the game remains under wraps, the conceptual framework points toward a unique, atmospheric experience rather than a traditional competitive shooter.
A Departure from Traditional Military Shooters
Vonderhaar, who left Treyarch in 2023—just a year before the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6—has made it clear that his new endeavor is not aiming to compete directly with the massive multiplayer ecosystems of modern military shooters.
The core premise of this new FPS is rooted in co-operative play. Players will be tasked with teaming up to overcome environmental challenges while simultaneously combating other players. This hybrid approach suggests a gameplay loop that emphasizes survival, strategy, and perhaps a touch of surrealism, given the David Lynch comparison. Lynch is renowned for his dreamlike, often unsettling narrative styles, hinting that this new shooter may feature unconventional storytelling or atmosphere that defies standard genre tropes.
BulletFarm Joins Forces with GreaterThan Group
The path to this new announcement has been turbulent for Vonderhaar and his team. After leaving Treyarch, Vonderhaar founded a new studio known as BulletFarm. The team had been working on their first game since 2024, but recent developments have shifted their trajectory.
It was recently confirmed that BulletFarm has joined forces with GreaterThan Group (GTG), a new holding firm that is also backing Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. The firm was founded by Simon Zhu, an ex-NetEase executive. Prior to this partnership, NetEase had backed both BulletFarm and a project directed by Fate of the Old Republic creator Casey Hudson. However, NetEase ultimately pulled funding, resulting in the demise of both projects.
Zhu formed GreaterThan Group specifically to support talented developers from those abandoned projects. The team at BulletFarm responded to the news with confidence on social media platform X (formerly Twitter):
"BulletFarm lives. Same name. Same DNA. Same commitment to the player experience. 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."
A Lean Development Approach
Despite losing two years of work on the previous project, Vonderhaar remains high-minded about the potential of this new FPS. The studio is taking a fundamentally different approach to production scale compared to the bloated budgets typical of the industry.
Key aspects of the new development strategy include:
- Small Team Size: Currently, fewer than 50 people are working on the game, a fraction of the workforce required for most AAA titles.
- Accelerated Timeline: The team is aiming to release the game within three years, a relatively short cycle for a new IP.
- No Bloated Budget: The project is designed to succeed without requiring hundreds of developers, focusing instead on systemic gameplay and immersion.
While it will likely be some time before players get a proper glimpse at the visuals and mechanics of this David Lynch-inspired shooter, the ambition behind it is evident. Vonderhaar and BulletFarm are attempting to convince a jaded market of gamers who are increasingly skeptical of new shooters. By focusing on cinematic immersion and a smaller, more agile team, they hope to create something fresh that stands out in a crowded genre.
