Longtime Treyarch lead David Vonderhaar says he was asked to "disconnect" from Call of Duty in a series of deleted Tweets
Treyarch's David Vonderhaar is a well-recognised face among Call of Duty developers, but it seems all is not well.
David Vonderhaar, who has been with Treyarch for 14 years, posted a series of cryptic and not-so-cryptic tweets overnight. The tweets, since deleted, suggest Vonderhaar is done with Call of Duty for now.
"I was asked by someone I respect to disconnect my day to day with the Call of Duty world I was apart of," wrote the veteran designer. "I respect that. It makes sense. Before I go ... Good luck to all the Call of Duty World League Esports heroes."
Although the tweets are gone, they've been archived by ResetEra forum members.
"Whatever story you heard is probably true but not the truth. Good s**t, guys. Be proud right now. It's a straight-up honor to you know all," Vonderhaar said in a different tweet.
"We have come a long way. I can't help myself in this exact second. I just don't care what it cost anymore. We did a thing together. It sucked. It was awesome. Pat yourself on the back. Thank you. So much fun to be had."
The only Tweet that remains (at the time of writing) from that night is a cryptic one that reads, "Starve the ego; feed the soul. Goodnight, and thanks for all the fish."
Vonderhaar is Treyarch's longtime studio design director, responsible for the multiplayer portion of many Black Ops games, not to mention the battle royale mode, Blackout, in Black Ops 4.
Recent reports revealed that many at the studio aren't happy with how aggressive Black Ops 4's monetisation currently is, while others shared horror stories of the studio's treatment of QA testers and its crunch culture.
Since then, it seems some sort of leadership shake-up has or is taking place at Treyarch, with another veteran lead - Zombies' Jason Blundell - rumoured to have been fired, something Activision officially denied.