Almost five years after leaving Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward during a storm of allegations and lawsuits, the studio's former lead designer, Todd Alderman, has returned as multiplayer project director, Activision confirmed to Polygon.

Alderman was among the 38 members of the "Infinity Ward Employee Group" that sued Activision in early 2010, seeking between $75 million and $125 million for unpaid bonuses for work on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The suit was filed after Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired, kicking off a contentious series of lawsuits in both directions surrounding the studio and its game. West and Zampella later formed Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment. Alderman was among some of the former Infinity Ward employees that went to work for the new studio after leaving Activision.

Alderman left Respawn in 2012. Most recently, he was a game designer at Riot Games.

"The chance to come back to Infinity Ward and Call of Duty is something I didn't think would ever happen," Alderman told Polygon in a prepared statement. "It's been five years since I've been here and a lot has changed. There are a lot of new faces and motivated people who want to make something great. It's a really cool game concept that I want to be a part of. I can't wait to see what we do with a three-year dev cycle.

"I'm excited to be back."

Alderman's hiring comes at a time when the studio seems to be undergoing some major changes. Early last year, Activision announced that the Call of Duty franchise was moving from a two-year development cycle to one which allowed studios three years to work on the annualized franchise. The company also announced that Sledgehammer Games was joining Treyarch and Infinity Ward as the third developer on the series.

Last year's Advanced Warfare was developed by Sledgehammer and Activision said this year's Call of Duty title is in development by Treyarch, so it's likely that 2016's shooter is being developed by Infinity Ward.

Earlier this year, long-time executive producer Mark Rubin left the studio, Activision confirmed. The company declined to comment further about the departure. We've reached out to Rubin for comment and will update this story when he responds.

While it's unclear if anyone will directly replace Rubin, there have been a number of high profile hires at the studio recently. Among those are new narrative design lead Taylor Kurosaki, formerly of Naughty Dog; lead game designer Jacob Minkoff, also formerly of Naughty Dog; and principal rendering engineer Michal Drobot, who was the 3D programmer on Far Cry 4.

In May, Activision studio Neversoft was shut down and most of the staff were brought over to Infinity Ward. Currently, Infinity Ward has a bit more than 250 employees, up from 100 prior to that merger.

Activision is in the midst of a massive recruiting effort, with the company trying to hire about 1,000 employees worldwide. Activision officials declined to say how many of those hires would be for Infinity Ward, though David Stohl, studio head at IW, did comment on Alderman's return and the studio's future.

"This is about hiring the best talent for the right position," Stohl said. "Todd's accomplishments speak for themselves. We're happy to have him lead multiplayer development here at Infinity Ward as well as provide a level of leadership across the entire studio team. Following last year's combination with Neversoft, we've continued to add some great talent throughout the studio. As we focus on the future, there's a real sense of energy that has us all excited about what's to come."

Update: Rubin sent the following comment to Polygon after the story published: