Former Infinity Ward developer, Robert Bowling, shut down operations to his independent game studio Robotoki this week. The studio opened up in 2012 and was currently in production to release its first game, Human Element.
The news of Robotoki studios closing was first announced and confirmed on Joystiq, with Bowling releasing an official statement.
“This week we have ceased operations at Robotoki and the development of Human Element is on hiatus,” Bowling told us in a statement. “We were actively negotiating a new publishing deal for the premium version of Human Element but unfortunately I was unable to continue to self-fund development until a deal was finalized.”
Bowling is best known for his work as Creative Strategist at Infinity Ward, during development on the Call of Duty Modern Warfare series. He left the company in 2012 and then went on to establish Robotoki.
As stated in the quote above, their current game Human Element is on hiatus. Human Element was an online first person shooter game that was expected to be released this fall for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game is set 35 years after a zombie apocalypse with the storyline focusing more on the survivors of the outbreak versus the zombies. Human Element was originally a free-to-play title, but both Robotoki and Nexon terminated its existing contract leaving the game for premium release.
It’s a very sad day in the industry to see one of our own close its doors. We wish all the best to Robert Bowling & Co. and hope to hear better news in the future. Please visit the Robotoki website to read their latest blog and show your support.