Robotoki, the studio run by ex-Call of Duty creative strategist Robert Bowling, was the subject of a police raid last night. "The LAPD just stormed @robotoki with guns drawn and detained me as they cleared the building," Bowling wrote on Twitter. He blamed a life-sized statue of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 character Ghost, who holds a rifle and overlooks the street from an open window in Robotoki's office.

"Once they realized I wasn't a hostage, [we] spent the next 30 [minutes] talking about games and playing with our giant NES controller," Bowling later said. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but how did this happen?

In an interview with Polygon, Bowling explained that the police raid was a result of an employee pressing the building's panic button, triggering a 911 response. The button was installed the previous day. "One of our designers, who shall not be shamed, pressed it on his way out," he said, "because apparently when boys find buttons that they are unsure of, their first instinct is to push it."

The staff went home for the day shortly after the button was pressed, "leaving their lonely studio head to receive the assault of their actions," Bowling said.

He continued, "I was in my office when [the police] arrived and saw them coming up our stairs, guns drawn. They yelled for me to put my hands up and walk towards them slowly, then took me into custody and out of the studio until they cleared the rest of the rooms and floors."

The officers soon realized Bowling was not, in fact, the hostage of a video game statue.



Posted: May 31, 2013 4:36 pm
Related Forum: Call of Duty Forum

Source: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/05/31/ex-call-of-duty-developer-subject-to-police-raid-by-mistake