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Treyarch is changing hands at the top. Mark Gordon, the studio head who steered the Call of Duty developer through the entirety of the Black Ops series, is retiring after 22 years to “focus on his next chapter,” the studio announced on 15 June 2026. Treyarch veterans Kevin Hendrickson and Yale Miller will step up as co-studio heads in his place.

The End of a 22-Year Treyarch Era

Gordon first joined Treyarch in May 2005 as chief technology officer, the same year the studio shipped its first Call of Duty game, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, and rose to studio head in November 2016. In its announcement, Treyarch paid tribute to his reach across the franchise. “Mark’s impact on the franchise has been immeasurable, from Call of Duty 2: Big Red One and Call of Duty 3, to World at War and the entirety of the Black Ops series,” the studio said, thanking him “for your leadership, friendship, and all you’ve achieved to make Treyarch such a wonderful place to call home.”

Hendrickson and Miller Step Into the Co-Studio Head Roles

Treyarch described Hendrickson and Miller as franchise veterans with decades of development and leadership experience between them, “both bringing a wealth of deep game knowledge and a shared commitment to Treyarch’s culture and creative ambition.” Gordon had become studio head in 2016 alongside Dan Bunting and Jason Blundell, but Blundell departed in 2020 to found the since-shuttered Deviation Games, and Bunting left in 2021 following a Wall Street Journal investigation into a sexual harassment claim filed against him years earlier. That left Gordon as sole studio head through the releases of Call of Duty: Vanguard, Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, which Treyarch either co-developed or supported.

With Gordon retiring, Hendrickson and Miller inherit a studio whose identity is bound up entirely in the Black Ops series, making the handover one of the more consequential leadership transitions in Call of Duty’s recent history.