Raven Software is an American videogame developer house based in Middleton, Wisconsin and founded in 1990 by the brothers Brian and Steven Raffel and a third, uncredited member. They were discovered and mentored by id Software's own John Romero; this relationship had Raven developing ShadowCaster. They later used Id's own engines to develop Hexen and Heretic.
In 1997, the company signed a publishing exclusivity deal with Activision, and were later acquired. After its adquisition, several developers left in order to form Human Head Studios. Still, their relationship with Id never waned; in 2005 and 2009 they developed games for them: Quake IV and Wolfenstein (2009), while outpouring their own material such as Soldier of Fortune and both Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.
The company, however, is more well known for being one of the leading development houses behind the Call of Duty series.
Games developed by Ravennote
- Black Crypt (1992, published by Electronic Arts)
- ShadowCaster (1993, published by Origin Systems)
- CyClones (1994, published by Strategic Simulations, Inc.)
- Heretic (1994, published by id Software; then published in 1996 by GT Interactive as Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders)
- Hexen: Beyond Heretic (1995, published by Id Software through GT Interactive)
- Necrodome (1996, published by Mindscape)
- Hexen II (1997, published by Id Software through Activision)
- Take No Prisoners (1997, published by Red Orb Entertainment)
- Mage Slayer (1997, published by GT Interactive)
- Heretic II (1998)
- Soldier of Fortune (2000)
- Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002)
- Quake IV (2005, co-developed with Id Software)
- Wolfenstein (2009) (2009)
- Singularity (2010)
Licensed games
- Star Trek: Elite Force (2000)
- Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002, published by LucasArts)
- Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003)
- X-Men Legends (2004)
- X-Men Legends II (2005)
- Marvel Ultimate Alliance (2006)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Call of Duty series:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010, mainly developed by Treyarch, with Raven assisting and developing DLC)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011, mainly developed by Infinity Ward, with Raven assisting and developing DLC)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012, mainly developed by Treyarch, with Raven assisting)
- Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013, mainly developed by Infinity Ward, with Raven assisting)
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014, mainly developed by Sledgehammer Games, with Raven assisting)
- Call of Duty Online (2015, published by Activision and Tencent Games)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015, mainly developed by Treyarch, with Raven assisting)
- Call Of Duty Infinite Warfare (2016, mainly developed by Infinity Ward, with Raven assisting)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (2016, originally developed by Infinity Ward)
- Call of Duty: WWII (2017, mainly developed by Sledgehammer Games, with Raven assisting)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018, mainly developed by Treyarch, with Raven assisting)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) (2019, mainly developed by Infinity Ward, with Raven assisting)
- Call of Duty: Warzone (2020, co-developed with Infinity Ward)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020, co-developed with Treyarch)
