Call of Duty Creative Strategist Steps Down

[The Wooster]

Call of Duty Creative Strategist Steps Down

Infinity loses one of its most prominent faces, as creative strategist Robert "FourZeroTwo" Bowling resigns.

Bowling announced his seemingly abrupt decision to leave via twitter:

"Today, I resign from my position as Creative Strategist of Call of Duty, as a lead of Infinity Ward, and as an employee of Activision," he wrote.

"Creative Strategist" sounds more like a character description than a job title, but apparently Mr. Bowling has been, uh... strategically creating since he joined Activision in 2006 as community manager for the Call of Duty franchise. Since Jason West and Vince Zampella left the company during the great "Where is my money?"-scandal of 2010, Bowling has essentially served as chief hype-man and figurehead/target for the series' fans. You know how on Twitter you occasionally see people shrieking about things like "last stand" and the fact the FAMAS is some kind unstoppable death laser? Chances are they were shrieking at Robert "FourZeroTwo" Bowling. To his credit, not once did he track down one of those complainers and beat them to death with a claw hammer.

Bowling hasn't revealed his future plans, nor said anything else about his decision to leave. The split with Activision appears amicable - the publishing juggernaut had this to say:

"We sincerely thank Robert for his many years of service. He's been a trusted and valued member of the Infinity Ward team. We wish him all the best on his decision to pursue future opportunities."




Permalink

 

[razer17]

Why do they even need a creative strategist? Each Call of Duty is just a very uncreative way of printing money by now.

(being uncreative doesn't necessarily mean bad, just that it's lacking originality by now)

 

[Akisa]

Why do they even need a creative strategist? Each Call of Duty is just a very uncreative way of printing money by now.

(being uncreative doesn't necessarily mean bad, just that it's lacking originality by now)

Darn I got Ninjaed, any did you also noticed that the picture looks like he was giving a fake smile?

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

Why do they even need a creative strategist? Each Call of Duty is just a very uncreative way of printing money by now.

(being uncreative doesn't necessarily mean bad, just that it's lacking originality by now)

Ninja'd me as well.

I think the title isn't particularly deserved at this point in time, the games are about as original as...as. You get my point.

 

[F4LL3N]

This [http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Robert-Bowling-Fired-Quit-Over-Wanting-Give-Gamers-Free-DLC-40834.html] might explain some more.

Btw, I think he was the PR guy/community manager, not some sort of game designer who is responsible for how creative the game is.

 

[jurnag12]

To his credit, not once did he track down one of those complainers and beat them to death with a claw hammer.

Which, knowing the Call of Duty community, is quite the achievement.

 

[gigastar]

I bet he joins Respawn Entertainment, then Activision will break out more lawyers.

Why do they even need a creative strategist? Each Call of Duty is just a very uncreative way of printing money by now.

I think his work the last 3 installments were creatively dressing up Koticks desire to part consumers from thier money.

In which case hes apparently done a fantastic job.

 

[razer17]

I bet he joins Respawn Entertainment, then Activision will break out more lawyers.

Why do they even need a creative strategist? Each Call of Duty is just a very uncreative way of printing money by now.

I think his work the last 3 installments were creatively dressing up Koticks desire to part consumers from thier money.

In which case hes apparently done a fantastic job.

Well in all fairness to him, MW 1 made the creative effort of changing from WW2 to a near future environment. That's creative, right?

 

[gigastar]

I bet he joins Respawn Entertainment, then Activision will break out more lawyers.

Why do they even need a creative strategist? Each Call of Duty is just a very uncreative way of printing money by now.

I think his work the last 3 installments were creatively dressing up Koticks desire to part consumers from thier money.

In which case hes apparently done a fantastic job.

Well in all fairness to him, MW 1 made the creative effort of changing from WW2 to a near future environment. That's creative, right?

Hardly, there was more than a few wars going on at the time to help fuel the productive process.

The rest was just modelling modern guns, uniforms and applying layers of grey and brown to everything.

 

[Jamane]

creativity and stratergy person leaves CoD ohh noes how will Cod survive without creativity or Stratergy! but I jest hope he gets a good job next and all that

 

[GaltarDude1138]

Commence the irony of the title of "Creative Strategist" and how it applies to Call of Duty!
...
Damn you internet ninjas.

OT: Oh well, really. When you feel like you gotta go, you gotta go. At least I'll remember when he was all nice about answering one of my tweets in the lull between Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops.

 

[Kahunaburger]

What a shame.

 

[Bloodtrozorx]

I hope he lands at Respawn. As a COD player (I know I know, stone me) I want to say he was a good guy and did his best to meet the psychotic demands of my erstwhile COD brethren.

 

[ASnogarD]

He probably got tired of having to spit out all that BS about the game, practically lying to some sections of the market...

Ok,OK, PC gamers... MW 2 dont need no dedicated server IWNET will ensure the best cheat free experience in a CoD title, MW 3 PC will get its dedicated servers back and shows we listen to the PC compaints.

... amongst a few gems he shat out to the communities.

 

[5-0]

I imagine he was probably getting quite bored of his job...can't have been many responsibilities.

 

[unindexedsearchengine]

When was the last time any Call of Duty had either creativity OR strategy involved?

i guess he was bored, so went to find a job where he actually DID stuff

 

[Jakeli]

Why do they even need a creative strategist? Each Call of Duty is just a very uncreative way of printing money by now.

(being uncreative doesn't necessarily mean bad, just that it's lacking originality by now)

Ninja'd me as well.

I think the title isn't particularly deserved at this point in time, the games are about as original as...as. You get my point.

He was was probably fired for not doing his job, obviously.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Get out while the gettings good, wise man.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

He was a PR guy, nothing more I believe. He told Acti and IW what the fans wanted, and they decided where to take the franchise. If the game went to shit it's not his fault, it's the fans and the Publishers/developers.

Creative strategist is just a fancy name, don't read too much into it.

 

[Tiamat666]

There is an oxymoron in the headline.

Then again... maybe that is why he quit. Poor fella had nothing to do.