Raven Software

Raven Software is an American AAA game-development studio founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. The studio began as an independent developer with the Amiga role-playing game Black Crypt, then gained recognition during the 1990s through the dark-fantasy first-person shooters Heretic and Hexen: Beyond Heretic, made in collaboration with id Software.

The company develops first-person shooters and live-service games, with capabilities spanning combat systems and mechanics, campaign missions and level design, cinematic storytelling, gameplay scripting, systems balancing, motion capture, character rigging, and remastering. Its work includes full-cycle AAA development, co-development, engineering and scripting, narrative design, live-operations support, and gameplay balancing for console and PC games.

Game development history

Over its history, Raven has developed licensed action-adventure and shooter projects including Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force, the Soldier of Fortune series, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, X-Men Legends, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Wolfenstein (2009), and Singularity.

Since 2010, the studio has been a contributor to the Call of Duty franchise. It is the lead developer for Call of Duty: Warzone and has served as lead campaign co-developer for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 alongside Treyarch. Its additional franchise work includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, Call of Duty Online, and contributions to Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, and Vanguard.

Corporate history

Raven joined Activision through a 1997 merger involving RSC Acquisition Corp. and continues to operate as Raven Software Corporation within Activision Publishing and the wider Microsoft Gaming organization. The studio’s current work combines campaign development, multiplayer and live-service operations, and technical production for major interactive entertainment releases.