Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
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Fourzerotwo Says Goodbye To Infinity Ward
After six years at the company, Robert Bowling has decided to resign from Infinity Ward as of today.
Robert Bowling. Fourzerotwo. Stealth Clown. Whatever you may call him, Infinity Ward's creative strategist was a popular figure; not just in the Call of Duty community, but in the entire games industry. Some love him, some loathe him, but when it comes to Call of Duty it is his name that people first think of.
To the surprise of many, he took to Twitter to announce that all of a sudden he is no longer with Infinity Ward or Activision.
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. - Robert 'fourzerotwo' Bowling
After working in the music and print industries - in which he created his own company at the low age of just 14, - Bowling joined Infinity Ward in April 2006 to work on the game that so many of us would come to love; Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
So what did his job entail and how did he get his nicknames? For the majority of his time at Infinity Ward he worked as a community manager before being promoted as creative strategist in 2010. What exactly those jobs involve is anyone's guess, but Bowling frequently interacted with the community on forums, Twitter and online multiplayer. He was the main spokesman for the company and if any feedback was passed on to him from the community, he would relay it to the designers and other relevant folk. His promotion to creative strategist included the same duties but with a bit more added on top. He is mostly known as fourzerotwo which is his roster number that was assigned to him during his stint in the US Army. Stealth Clown on the other hand was an internet meme that erupted when in an Inside Xbox trailer for Modern Warfare 3's Resurgence Pack, Bowling stated that he was a "Stealth Clown" when taking cover behind a clown on the Carnival map (4:20 seconds in the view below.)
Both Robert Bowling and Josh Olin (aka JD_2020) were recognized as two of the most prestigious community managers in the industry due to their work on the most popular and record-breaking video game franchise since they were both appointed in 2006 and 2008, respectively. However, JD_2020 left Treyarch in September last year and the latest departure means that there is a very large gap that needs filling. Sledgehammer Games' Guy Beahm has also left his role as community manager in preference for a position as a level design intern at the same company. That means that the Call of Duty community is currently left without a community manager to look after them, with some members of the community having a cause for concern that Activision may be looking to phase out the position of a personal community manager, instead opting for a mystery behind-the-scenes character to update the franchise's various social media accounts. If Activision do decide to bring a new community manager on board, they will have some vary large shoes to fill.
Just like any public figure, Robert Bowling wasn't invincible to controversy. Before the launch of Call of Duty: World at War in November 2008, Bowling let out a rant aimed towards Activision senior producer, Noah Heller. Calling him "Senior Super Douche Noah Heller", Bowling hit out at Heller consistently comparing Call of Duty 4 to World at War and claiming that World at War was the first game in the series to make bolt-action rifles one hit kills. Bowling also recommended interviewers to interview someone who knew what they were talking about, such as someone on the development team at Treyarch.
Members of the community also feel that fourzerotwo has told lies and made broken promises. Perhaps the most heated and controversial debate that he has been involved in is the omission of dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2 on PC. The announcement a few weeks before the game launched that the PC version would not feature dedicated servers like previous games in the franchise was met with anger and disappointment, which led to petitions, boycotts and thousands of PC gamers trying to get their voice heard by Infinity Ward. He is also no stranger to insults, abuse and overall angry comments that he receives on Twitter about people's dissatisfaction regarding certain things to do with the Modern Warfare games.
On top of all the controversy that he has been involved in, he has featured in an episode of one of the biggest television shows; Family Guy, in which he manages to snipe the ever-dopey but lovable Peter Griffin. While big-budget cinematic trailers are created by companies like The Ant Farm, most of the entertaining and enthralling Modern Warfare gameplay trailers you see are recorded and edited by Bowling himself; with a few help from his colleagues of course. There's no doubt that Twitter is the place where he is most active. It's here where he will give updates, send out news or forward useful links such as articles concerning the game or newly-released videos. But the best thing about his involvement on Twitter is easily the interaction with fans. Despite having 360,000+ followers and receiving hundreds to thousands of tweets each day, each day his feed is full of answers to various questions.
Robert Bowling has also played a big part in helping us get to where we are now. Back when we were still growing and Modern Warfare 24/7 was being updated and run by one dedicated fan, he took notice of us. This even led to him inviting our admin for an exclusive interview and preview of the game, as well as giving us goodies to giveaway to our visitors; a signed canvas, a signed poster, copies of the game and a GameStop gift card. And that's just briefly touching on how much he has supported us, and how much his support has let us get to where we are now. For that, we are ever grateful.
It's clear that there are mixed opinions on Robert Bowling throughout the community. He's done successful things, and here's made mistakes just like all of us. He oversaw one of the most enjoyable and addictive games ever in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and he helped shape a passionate and committed community. Whatever your view on fourzerotwo, he may have made mistakes, but he's done a terrific job to build and maintain a community, and he hasn't been afraid to speak his mind or interact with the community; even during the darkest times.
Whatever is next for Robert Bowling, whether that is joining his old friends at Respawn Entertainment or something completely different, we would like to wish him the best of luck in the future and would like to thank him for what he has done for us and the community; thanks for your service to the Call of Duty community, fourzerotwo.
Feel free to leave your wishes in our comment section below or on our forums.
NB: This is en editorial and does not necessary represent the views of the entire Digital Warfare 24/7 staff.
http://digitalwarfare247.com/games/modernwarfare3/451-fourzerotwo-says-goodbye-to-iw
After six years at the company, Robert Bowling has decided to resign from Infinity Ward as of today.
Robert Bowling. Fourzerotwo. Stealth Clown. Whatever you may call him, Infinity Ward's creative strategist was a popular figure; not just in the Call of Duty community, but in the entire games industry. Some love him, some loathe him, but when it comes to Call of Duty it is his name that people first think of.
To the surprise of many, he took to Twitter to announce that all of a sudden he is no longer with Infinity Ward or Activision.
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. - Robert 'fourzerotwo' Bowling
After working in the music and print industries - in which he created his own company at the low age of just 14, - Bowling joined Infinity Ward in April 2006 to work on the game that so many of us would come to love; Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
So what did his job entail and how did he get his nicknames? For the majority of his time at Infinity Ward he worked as a community manager before being promoted as creative strategist in 2010. What exactly those jobs involve is anyone's guess, but Bowling frequently interacted with the community on forums, Twitter and online multiplayer. He was the main spokesman for the company and if any feedback was passed on to him from the community, he would relay it to the designers and other relevant folk. His promotion to creative strategist included the same duties but with a bit more added on top. He is mostly known as fourzerotwo which is his roster number that was assigned to him during his stint in the US Army. Stealth Clown on the other hand was an internet meme that erupted when in an Inside Xbox trailer for Modern Warfare 3's Resurgence Pack, Bowling stated that he was a "Stealth Clown" when taking cover behind a clown on the Carnival map (4:20 seconds in the view below.)
Both Robert Bowling and Josh Olin (aka JD_2020) were recognized as two of the most prestigious community managers in the industry due to their work on the most popular and record-breaking video game franchise since they were both appointed in 2006 and 2008, respectively. However, JD_2020 left Treyarch in September last year and the latest departure means that there is a very large gap that needs filling. Sledgehammer Games' Guy Beahm has also left his role as community manager in preference for a position as a level design intern at the same company. That means that the Call of Duty community is currently left without a community manager to look after them, with some members of the community having a cause for concern that Activision may be looking to phase out the position of a personal community manager, instead opting for a mystery behind-the-scenes character to update the franchise's various social media accounts. If Activision do decide to bring a new community manager on board, they will have some vary large shoes to fill.
Just like any public figure, Robert Bowling wasn't invincible to controversy. Before the launch of Call of Duty: World at War in November 2008, Bowling let out a rant aimed towards Activision senior producer, Noah Heller. Calling him "Senior Super Douche Noah Heller", Bowling hit out at Heller consistently comparing Call of Duty 4 to World at War and claiming that World at War was the first game in the series to make bolt-action rifles one hit kills. Bowling also recommended interviewers to interview someone who knew what they were talking about, such as someone on the development team at Treyarch.
Members of the community also feel that fourzerotwo has told lies and made broken promises. Perhaps the most heated and controversial debate that he has been involved in is the omission of dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2 on PC. The announcement a few weeks before the game launched that the PC version would not feature dedicated servers like previous games in the franchise was met with anger and disappointment, which led to petitions, boycotts and thousands of PC gamers trying to get their voice heard by Infinity Ward. He is also no stranger to insults, abuse and overall angry comments that he receives on Twitter about people's dissatisfaction regarding certain things to do with the Modern Warfare games.
On top of all the controversy that he has been involved in, he has featured in an episode of one of the biggest television shows; Family Guy, in which he manages to snipe the ever-dopey but lovable Peter Griffin. While big-budget cinematic trailers are created by companies like The Ant Farm, most of the entertaining and enthralling Modern Warfare gameplay trailers you see are recorded and edited by Bowling himself; with a few help from his colleagues of course. There's no doubt that Twitter is the place where he is most active. It's here where he will give updates, send out news or forward useful links such as articles concerning the game or newly-released videos. But the best thing about his involvement on Twitter is easily the interaction with fans. Despite having 360,000+ followers and receiving hundreds to thousands of tweets each day, each day his feed is full of answers to various questions.
Robert Bowling has also played a big part in helping us get to where we are now. Back when we were still growing and Modern Warfare 24/7 was being updated and run by one dedicated fan, he took notice of us. This even led to him inviting our admin for an exclusive interview and preview of the game, as well as giving us goodies to giveaway to our visitors; a signed canvas, a signed poster, copies of the game and a GameStop gift card. And that's just briefly touching on how much he has supported us, and how much his support has let us get to where we are now. For that, we are ever grateful.
It's clear that there are mixed opinions on Robert Bowling throughout the community. He's done successful things, and here's made mistakes just like all of us. He oversaw one of the most enjoyable and addictive games ever in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and he helped shape a passionate and committed community. Whatever your view on fourzerotwo, he may have made mistakes, but he's done a terrific job to build and maintain a community, and he hasn't been afraid to speak his mind or interact with the community; even during the darkest times.
Whatever is next for Robert Bowling, whether that is joining his old friends at Respawn Entertainment or something completely different, we would like to wish him the best of luck in the future and would like to thank him for what he has done for us and the community; thanks for your service to the Call of Duty community, fourzerotwo.
Feel free to leave your wishes in our comment section below or on our forums.
NB: This is en editorial and does not necessary represent the views of the entire Digital Warfare 24/7 staff.
http://digitalwarfare247.com/games/modernwarfare3/451-fourzerotwo-says-goodbye-to-iw
Why do i always have to have the dumbest muthafuckas on the planet on my team everytime i want to snipe? It's like a rule...I could be totally raping the shit out of the whole lobby then the one match i want to switch it up and snipe every member of my team goes severly negative on kill to death!
They need to start making the campaign play through mandatory before you get online and lose every match for your team!
They need to start making the campaign play through mandatory before you get online and lose every match for your team!
