Robert Bowling Opens New Game Studio RoboToki

Only a short few weeks after his mostly unforeseen departure from Infinity Ward and Activision, ex-Call of Duty creative strategist Robert Bowling is starting his own game company, and he’s calling it Robotoki.

Via emails with Game Informer this afternoon, he discussed the decisions behind creating Robotoki, stating that the envisioning of this company began immediately after retiring his post at Infinity Ward.

“Robotoki is focused on being a developer development studio that just happens to make games,” he said. “We are focused on our team first and everything else second, because I believe as an industry; we have a lot to learn on how to treat talent.

While we continue to out stride film and music entertainment in other areas, we are falling severely behind in how to properly inspire and support our creative talent.”

He was quick to mention that Robotoki is entirely self-sufficient in its funding, and will absolutely only partner with supporters of that model.

“I wanted to create an environment where the creative vision holders held complete control over their work and could guide and maintain it from concept to execution. This is why I chose to completely self-fund Robotoki and have chosen to only work with partners who were supportive of that model.”

The first focus for the company will be revealed as early as late this year, and will release on next-generation consoles, PC, and mobile devices like iOS and Android.

“As a developer, our focus is on creating a universe first, experiences second, and game mechanics last.

With focus being on universe, we aim to create experiences that transcend platforms and genres and allow our players to connect to our world, their characters, and gameplay via any medium (console, PC, or mobile).

However, 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 fueled by the actions and contributions in each.”

If you want to learn more about what ol’ FourZeroTwo is doing with Robotoki, check out their recently opened website and Twitter. They’re also hiring, for all you interested, aspiring creators out there.

Now that we finally know what the man himself has been up to — what do you think he has up his sleeve for Robotoki? Do you anticipate any big names moving to the studio? And since Robotoki so dependent on self-funding, will Kickstarter be a possible platform for them down the road, to allow their fans to contribute to project development?

I guess we’ll just have to see.

[via Game Informer]