Mark Gordon, the longtime leader of Call of Duty studio Treyarch, is retiring after 22 years at the company. The studio confirmed his exit, saying Gordon is leaving his role as studio head to focus on what comes next. He spent roughly a decade in the top job before the handover.
Quick answer: Mark Gordon is retiring as Treyarch’s studio head, and Kevin Hendrickson and Yale Miller are taking over together as co-studio heads.
What Treyarch announced about Mark Gordon’s retirement
Treyarch shared the news through its official channels, framing Gordon’s departure as a retirement rather than a move to another company. The studio thanked him for his guidance and his care for the team, the culture, and the people who work there.
After an extraordinary 22 years with Treyarch, our own Mark Gordon has decided to retire from his role as Studio Head to focus on his next chapter.
The studio credited Gordon with shaping the franchise across many years of releases, calling out his work on Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, Call of Duty 3, World at War, and the full run of the Black Ops series. You can read the full message on Treyarch’s official post.
Who replaces Mark Gordon at Treyarch
Two longtime Treyarch staffers are stepping up to fill the role. Kevin Hendrickson, currently the chief operating officer, and Yale Miller, the director of production, will lead the studio together as co-studio heads. Both have spent years working on Call of Duty, at Treyarch and at Activision before that.
| Role | Person | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Outgoing studio head | Mark Gordon | 22 years at Treyarch, around 10 as studio head |
| Co-studio head | Kevin Hendrickson | Treyarch COO and franchise veteran |
| Co-studio head | Yale Miller | Director of production and franchise veteran |
Mark Gordon’s history at Treyarch
Gordon started his career in games as a programmer and joined Treyarch in 2005 as chief technology officer. That was the same year the studio shipped its first Call of Duty title, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One. He moved into the studio head role in November 2016.
He took on the top job alongside Dan Bunting and Jason Blundell. Blundell left in 2020 to start Deviation Games, which has since closed, and Bunting left in 2021. That left Gordon as the only studio head through a long stretch of releases, including Vanguard, Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 6, and Black Ops 7, all of which Treyarch either developed or supported.
Treyarch itself dates back to 1996, eight years before Gordon arrived. The studio worked across genres early on, including Spider-Man, NHL, and skateboarding games, before Call of Duty became its main focus in 2005 and stayed that way.
Gordon’s exit follows other high-profile departures from the studio, such as David Vonderhaar, who left in 2023 after 18 years and went on to found Bulletfarm. With Hendrickson and Miller now sharing the leadership role, Treyarch keeps the top spot in the hands of people who have been with the franchise for years.
