Robert Bowling, known as FourZeroTwo to Call of Duty enthusiasts announced his shock departure from Infinity Ward and Activision last month, after being the public face of Infinity Ward’s Call of duty titles for nearly six years. It was speculated that he might’ve run off to join Respawn, the company formed by former Infinity Ward heads when the company’s relations with Activision soured after a rather public spat.
It looks like that won’t be the case – as Bowling has started his own studio, Robotaki, that he says will create “experiences that transcend platforms and genres and allow our players to connect to our world, their characters, and gameplay via any medium”.
“However,” he explained to GameInformer “how they experience the world is unique to their device. The mobile / tablet experience should not mimic the console or PC experience, it should be additive to it, not supplemental. Allowing them to support their console and PC experience, continue their progression, but by experiencing the world in a meaningful and unique way.”
“Our focus is creating an experience that is no longer strictly single player, strictly co-op, or strictly multiplayer, but adapting the strengths of each of these into a unique experience that is fuelled by the actions and contributions in each.”
Coming across as a little bitter about corporate relations within Activision, Bowling asserts that his new, independently financed studio will foster “an environment where the creative vision holders held complete control over their work and could guide and maintain it from concept to execution”.
It’ll be interesting to see what he and his new studio are capable of. Though his official title at Infinity Ward before is departure was “creative strategist,” I’ve always considered Bowling to be more of a corporate mouthpiece than a creative visionary. Robotaki is already hiring, and promises to reveal its first output for consoles, mobile and PC later this year. Let’s just keep fingers crossed that it’s not another damned modern combat shooter.
Last Updated: April 24, 2012