David Vondehaar, the legendary designer behind Call of Duty: Black Ops, is developing a new shooter at GreaterThan Group, a holding company founded by a former NetEase executive. Vondehaar describes his project using an unconventional pitch: "If David Lynch made shooters." The comparison references the surrealist filmmaker's work on Eraserhead and Twin Peaks, suggesting Vondehaar's game will embrace atmospheric strangeness and psychological elements rarely seen in mainstream shooters.
GreaterThan Group backs multiple projects, including the upcoming Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. Vondehaar distances his shooter from the "Call of Duty killer" label, explicitly rejecting comparisons to franchise-dominating military shooters. Instead, he's pursuing a distinct creative vision rooted in mood, atmosphere, and unconventional design.
Vondehaar spent years at Treyarch shaping Black Ops' multiplayer design and mechanics, making him one of the shooter genre's most influential architects. His departure signals a shift away from traditional competitive design toward something experimental. The Lynch reference hints at narrative depth, unsettling imagery, and a willingness to subvert genre expectations.
This project arrives as the shooter market fragments. While Call of Duty and Destiny remain dominant, players increasingly seek alternatives. Games like Helldivers 2 succeed through cooperative focus. Games like Overwatch 2 dominate through hero-based mechanics. A Lynch-influenced shooter from a veteran designer at a well-funded studio could carve out meaningful space by rejecting the genre's default aesthetic: realistic military settings and straightforward power fantasies.
Vondehaar's pitch suggests GreaterThan Group wants distinctive creative voices over franchise chasing. That approach carries risk. Experimental shooters often struggle commercially. But