Robert Bowling Unexpectedly Announces He is Exiting Activision [UPDATED]

Creative Strategist?, give me a break, its fancy talk for community manager. So nobody should really care about him leaving.

@aurahack said:

These comments, as usual, are terrible. Dude was always upfront and should be respected for that. Sad to see him go, though I'll giggle some if he ends up at Respawn.

To the contrary, I'd say these comments perfectly capture how much of a fucking loudmouthed shit Robert Bowling is, between his constant lying to the community about features and patches and fucking awful stunts like that "one shot center mass" shit.

Well the deal was that you had to stick around at Infinity Ward and make Modern Warfare 3 to get Infinity Wards share of the Modern Warfare 2 profits right? He is one of only a handful that stuck around it seems so I suspect he recently received a large payout.

I'm pretty sure this means that MW is drawing to a close. 

Wait this dude was a community manager as recently as MW2 -- who cares?

Call of Duty? Is that some new Mass Effect DLC? :D

@Sekoku: Sorry but you're going to have to get used to this. A lot of companies do this already so I'm not sure why you'd give him any guff for doing it as well.

I know 402 got a lot of crap, some deserved but most of it is unwarranted. Serving as the voice of an entire company or franchise that is as popular as Call of Duty/Modern Warfare is a thankless job. He put a smile on as best he could despite threats, insults, and God knows what else slung at him for being the voice of Infinity Ward and Activision (to a lesser extent). Best of luck to him.

Haha, hover hands.

You know. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't a long time coming since the fallout at IW after MW2 launched.

You just know he's headed to Respawn... West and Zampella made an offer he couldn't refuse perhaps?

I've got no problem with him. but good. Maybe we can get someone that doesn't use twitter to get fixes and news out to people. (Oh, who the hell am I kidding?

@ArcLyte said:

@Mystyr_E said:

<checks pockets>

<checks under bed>

Hm, can't seem to find a fuck to give

\end of thread.

Respawn: Yo, Robby! We could probably use your services now, afford to pay you, etc. You ready?

Robert Bowling: "Today, I resign my...."

Does he do any sort of game design or is he just a glorified forum mod?

@Mystyr_E said:

<checks pockets>

<checks under bed>

Hm, can't seem to find a fuck to give

heh.

@Rmack said:

One shot, center mass.

Does nothing In Call of Duty

Random picture is random.

@Diablos1125 said:

Robert Bowling gets hired at Respawn Entertainment confirmed?

@deerokus said:

I wouldn't entirely expect him to show up at Respawn, they already has a community manager http://www.giantbomb.com/abbie-heppe/72-99837/. Mind you, I don't even know what 'creative strategist' means in the context of CoD. I really doubt he had any creative control over the game.

@AuthenticM said:

$20 he's going at Respawn.

@YukoAsho said:

So tomorrow he gets hired by Respawn?

@adoggz said:

so what are the odds he ends up at respawn?

@slyspider said:

respawn got a new person?

@wsowen02 said:

Respawn needs a mod for their message boards.

Robert Bowling gets hired at Respawn Entertainment confirmed?

The dude's married and has kids, so yeah, I can understand the hover hands.

I wouldn't entirely expect him to show up at Respawn, they already has a community manager http://www.giantbomb.com/abbie-heppe/72-99837/. Mind you, I don't even know what 'creative strategist' means in the context of CoD. I really doubt he had any creative control over the game.

$20 he's going at Respawn.

@Mystyr_E said:

<checks pockets>

<checks under bed>

Hm, can't seem to find a fuck to give

And yet, here you are. That reminds me, I have to find a Rugby message board, so I can go there and tell them how much I don't care about Rugby.

Because this is behavior that makes sense.

@Enigma777 said:

@Sooty said:

Is Creative Strategist (Community Manager) sort of like how Subway call their employees Sandwich Artists? fourzerotwo always struck me as either incredibly ignorant of the PC platform or he was being told what to say by Activision.

Hey, it takes a real artist to make a sandwich like that.

It must, because none of the people working at any Subway I go to can seem to keep it together.

One shot, center mass.

was totally looking forward to whatever Respawn was coming up with.

if they hire this guy, i need to hear him say "activision MADE me tell all those lies so i quit" or else i'm not interested in anything that Respawn does.

"... many years of service" ? Did he just resign from the military?

@Mystyr_E said:

<checks pockets>

<checks under bed>

Hm, can't seem to find a fuck to give

\end of thread.

I hope he ends up working somewhere he enjoys. I can only imagine working as a community manager for Infinity Ward and dealing with all the shit that they get.

I cant stress his hover hands enough people.

Owned

Maybe he finally got paid his bonus from MW2, so it was time to move on.

respawn got a new person?

@Sooty said:

Is Creative Strategist (Community Manager) sort of like how Subway call their employees Sandwich Artists? fourzerotwo always struck me as either incredibly ignorant of the PC platform or he was being told what to say by Activision.

Hey, it takes a real artist to make a sandwich like that.

He had a tough job. I can see how he could get demotivated by higher-ups insisting on keeping stuff in the game that he knew the fans wouldn't like and the subsequent hate directed at him personally. The CoD community isn't the most considerate and it's quite a feat to keep your sanity for 6 years being the face of a game that so many people love to hate. Maybe he's smart to leave now before the annual milking really starts to ruin the CoD franchise.

@Sooty said:

Is Creative Strategist (Community Manager) sort of like how Subway call their employees Sandwich Artists? fourzerotwo always struck me as either incredibly ignorant of the PC platform or he was being told what to say by Activision.

It IS Activision we're talking about. My guess is they scripted him like crazy. He always seemed like a nice guy who had no control over what he said in public. I wish him luck. Maybe he has a position at Respawn? MAYBE?

NEVER.

But seriously, maybe.

caption of the photo of Robert Bowling in the article "Bitches Love Community Management"

@FritzDude: God damn I love me some word play, well done sir.

So this guy was the visible scab who wasn't even a developer but who seemed to convey the message "hey, it's still great to work here at IW, not EVERYBODY has left!". And now he leaves.

Yes, how totally "unexpected" of him, and not at all predictable.

He will open 'Robert's Bowling' down the street.

@YukoAsho said:

So tomorrow he gets hired by Respawn?

Reading the headline I instantly thought "Okay, so Respawn is announcing their game at E3 and he needs two months to get settled into the company before he's out their pitching the game. Got it."

:)

@TheHumanDove said:

I cant stress his hover hands enough people.

Respawn needs a mod for their message boards.

@Mystyr_E: He's one of few major names that stayed with Infinity Ward beyond the shit-fan incident. I think it's a pretty big deal that he's leaving, and it's perhaps an even bigger deal if we find out where he's going.

I cant stress his hover hands enough people.

He obviously wasn't very good at his job.

Good luck to him and his future endeavors.

@rebgav said:

@SaturdayNightSpecials said:

Remember the "one shot center-mass" thing?

He sure changed his tone since then.

Wasn't that Noah Heller? Or are you talking about the angry blog post?

Yeah, the blog post.

I guess he was scared into silence by West and Zampella being fired. Which might have cost him a job at Respawn today, though maybe EA itself could use him.