Robotoki, the independent studio founded by former Call of Duty man Robert Bowling, has ”ceased operations” after funds for development ran out. This means their post-apocalyptic zombie survivor is ”on hiatus”.
Bowling and his reduced team are ”actively negotiating” a new publishing deal for the once free-to-play Human Element, which was then in partnership with Nexon. However they ‘amicably’ split up.
“This week we have ceased operations at Robotoki and the development of Human Element is on hiatus. 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.”
The first-person survival game was to be a mix of action, strategy and management of resources with different starting options representing different levels of challenge, such as looking after a child the hardest. Human Element is built using CryEngine and was expected for a release on PC this November.
However Robotoki decided they’d prefer a premium release and not a free-to-play title, which led to the partnership with Nexon dissolving. Sticking with a free-to-play model would have sacrificed ”the most fun” parts of it, said Bowling.
As of right now Human Element remains in limbo. Troublingly for people following the game the December released trailer for Human Element seemed devoid of anything that Bowling initially said in describing the game. Instead what we got was a CGI-heavy ‘all guns blazing’ reel of over-the-top action. It was hardly showcasing a gritty zombie survival game with hard choices.
