Black Ops legend David Vonderhaar is creating a Call of Duty rival

UPDATE:

David Vonderhaar, creator of the Black Ops series in the Call of Duty franchise, has announced that he has formed a new studio, BulletFarm, under the Net Ease family, and is making an AAA title that will run on Unreal Engine 5.

The unnamed project aims to be a co-operative first-person with "rich characters, precise mechanics, more intimate storytelling, and plenty of action."

Original Article:

After leaving Activision's Treyarch studio, after just shy of 19 years, Call of Duty legend David Vonderhaar appears to be stepping back into the ring with a new project.

As a veteran of the series, having been the lead on eight different Call of Duty games ranging from the entire Black Ops series to other earlier titles, Vonderhaar is held within the highest of esteems by fans. Ever since moving on from Activision, CoD loyalists have been wondering what the genius has been up to.

Well, having previously joined a "Classified Company", Vonderhaar has been working on an "Undisclosed Project", per LinkedIn, and has now teased his upcoming work, leaving fans thinking some sort of Blackout sequel is inbound.

David Vonderhaar fans think a Blackout sequel is on the way

Click to enlarge

On February 25, Vonderhaar updated fans on what he was working on with a link to the website "attractscreen.info".

For many fans of his work who followed the link, the screen was completely black, leaving most to think that the site was intentionally having a blackout. Two plus two equals Blackout 2...apparently.

Blackout was one of Vonderhaar's latter projects for Call of Duty, rolling out the original battle royale game in the series during the Black Ops 4 era. It persisted as quite a fan-favourite for those players who preferred Treyarch games to Infinity Ward's, albeit with a few flaws like loot building.

A Blackout sequel has long been yearned for by fans, especially when Warzone was dying a slow and painful death before its sequel. 

What is David Vonderhaar working on?

Many of these Blackout hopefuls might soon be disappointed, though. Vonderhaar did confirm his exit from the company, meaning it's highly unlikely that he would be continuing work within the CoD franchise. 

What's more damning is that the link doesn't actually lead to a blacked-out screen at all, it must have been glitched for many people.

Instead, the link shows a barn, and the site changes settings throughout the day - ranging from nighttime to daylight. The barn is thought to be a typically Treyarch/Vahn Easter egg, but has yet to have been cracked.

Other fans have instantly connected this to Far Cry, which boasts many similarly styled structures. Ubisoft is rumoured to be working on a new Far Cry game, and it wouldn't be the first time the company has nabbed ex-CoD devs, given Mark Rubin is leading the charge with XDefiant.

But history could repeat itself. Previously, an army of Infinity Ward staff split from the Activision branch and ended up forming Respawn Entertainment, who ultimately made Apex Legends.

The Infinity Ward split even kicked off after two Lead Developers wanted to make CoD their own title and not the property of Activision, could the same have happened with Blackout?