Treyarch is 30 years old. The Call of Duty studio marked the milestone yesterday with a 36-second video posted under the hashtag #Treyarch30, cutting through moments from the Black Ops series before the studio logo changes into "Treyarch 30, Est. 1996." Earlier that morning, at 11:30 AM ET / 8:30 AM PT, the studio asked players which endings they picked in Black Ops II and Black Ops Cold War. Check out the official posts down below:
From Treyarch Invention To Call Of Duty
Alongside the video, Treyarch published a studio history called "30 Years of Treyarch" on its official website. The studio started out as Treyarch Invention, LLC, which it describes as "a small team with big ambitions." It was founded in 1996 by Peter Akemann and Doğan Köslü and was acquired by Activision in 2001.
Treyarch's early catalog included Olympic Hockey '98, Die by the Sword, Triple Play Baseball, Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm, Max Steel: Covert Missions, Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer and NHL 2K. The studio said it released more than a dozen games in 4 years across dark fantasy, hero action and team sports.
The Spider-Man Years
The studio calls 2002's Spider-Man its "first big swing." The game brought Sam Raimi's film to consoles. The studio said it was 2004's Spider-Man 2 that "changed everything," letting players explore an open-world New York City with physics-based web-swinging for the first time. In 2005, Ultimate Spider-Man moved into the Ultimate Marvel comics universe, and Treyarch shared that it created Beetle as an original character for the game, who later appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man #124 and the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series.
The studio followed with Spider-Man 3 in 2007 and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows in 2008, which was co-developed with Shaba Games. That same year, Treyarch released 007: Quantum of Solace, which it developed while the film was still in production.
World At War And The Birth Of Zombies
Treyarch's first Call of Duty game was Call of Duty 2: Big Red One in 2005, which followed the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division and was made specifically for consoles. Call of Duty 3 followed in 2006 and released across 2 console generations.
In 2008, Call of Duty: World at War took the series to the Pacific theater of World War II and introduced Viktor Reznov and Sergeant Roebuck. It was also the debut of Zombies, which Treyarch said was developed in secret by a small team near the end of production. The studio wrote that people across the office played the prototype on their lunch breaks, and Zombies went on the disc as a hidden Easter Egg that became available after finishing the Campaign. By the time World at War came out, Treyarch had launched 20 games.
The Black Ops Era
Call of Duty: Black Ops arrived in November 2010 and, according to Treyarch, set the record for the biggest entertainment launch in history on its opening weekend. It introduced Alex Mason, Frank Woods, Jason Hudson and Grigori Weaver, along with the original Nuketown and multiplayer features such as Theater Mode, Combat Record, the Emblem Editor and Wager Matches.
Black Ops II spanned 2 timelines across the 1980s and the 2020s, following Alex Mason and Jason Hudson in the past and David "Section" Mason in the future as they hunted Raul Menendez, with player choices shaping how the story ended. Black Ops III moved the series to 2065, and Black Ops 4 brought the franchise's first battle royale mode, Blackout. Black Ops Cold War launched in November 2020 with a Campaign co-developed with Raven Software, and Treyarch shipped it while its teams were working from home during the pandemic. Its Campaign also had multiple endings, which is what the studio's second post asks players about.
The history wraps up with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, which the studio built on the same new shared technology and supported with 12 post-launch seasons between them. The Black Ops 7 reveal is covered in CALL OF DUTY BLACK OPS 7 Announced, Will Have A Campaign, Multiplayer & Zombies Game Modes. Treyarch said its team is now working on its next project and on "building the foundation for another 30 years," but it did not say what that project is.
More Anniversary Posts This Week
The 30th anniversary posts follow other milestones the studio marked this week, including the anniversary of Call of Duty: World at War on November 11 and the anniversary of the original Black Ops on November 9. Treyarch also posted that its Art of Treyarch book is back in stock. The studio closed its history by thanking players and asking fans to share their favorite memories using #Treyarch30.
Which Treyarch game would you pick as the studio's best from the past 30 years: Spider-Man 2, World at War, the original Black Ops or something else?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.