Robotoki, the studio founded by the Infinity Ward developer Robert Bowling, has closed down, casting doubt over the future of its debut project, Human Element. "This week we have ceased operations at Robotoki and the development of Human Element is on hiatus," Bowling wrote in a statement issued to Joystiq. "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," he added. It is unclear if another company is going to step in to publish Human Element, which was revealed in December as a first-person zombie survival game. A month prior to its reveal, Bowling announced that its publishing contract with Nexon had terminated, and that the game was no longer free-to-play. Bowling worked at Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward from 2006-2012 as the studio's "creative strategist," contributing to games such as 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He quit in March 2012, and established Robotoki later that year. Bowling said at the time that Robotoki had lined up a new publishing partner for the game, and hoped to make a formal announcement back in December, but no such deal materialised.
