Raven Software is an American video game developer based in Madison, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel after getting a publishing deal for their first game, Black Crypt (1992). During that game's development, the company formed a relationship with id Software, which was briefly located on the same street. Raven spent the next few years working primarily on PC games in partnership with id, making ShadowCaster (1993) with a game engine by id Software and three games in the Heretic series between 1994–1997 with id as the publisher and id Software employees as the producers. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision, and the Raffel brothers subsequently sold the company to Activision. Several employees left Raven Software at that time to form Human Head Studios.[1]
Raven spent the next decade working on a few original games such as Soldier of Fortune, as well as licensed games, including Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (2000), Quake 4 (2005), the Star Wars games Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002) and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003), and the Marvel Entertainment games X-Men Legends (2004), X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006). By 2009, the company had three development teams, and released the licensed games Wolfenstein (2009) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), while working on their first original game since 2002, Singularity (2010). Wolfenstein and Singularity sold poorly, however, and Raven laid off employees after each game, consolidating into a single development team by October 2010, shortly after Singularity's release.[1] Following the layoffs, Raven focused exclusively as an assistant developer for the Call of Duty series, which has the position of lead developer rotate between Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games.[2] Raven was the primary developer on two games since then: the China-exclusive Call of Duty Online (2015) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (2016), a remaster of the 2007 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare packaged with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Games
Title | Details |
---|---|
Original release date: February 1992[3][4] |
Release years by system: 1992 – Amiga[4] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: September 1993[6][7] |
Release years by system: 1993 – MS-DOS[7] 1994 – PC-98[8] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: November 1994[10][11] |
Release years by system: 1994 – MS-DOS[11] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: December 23, 1994[12] |
Release years by system: 1994 – MS-DOS[12] 1999 – MacOS[13] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: October 30, 1995[15] |
Release years by system: 1995 – MS-DOS[15] 1997 – MacOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64[16] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: September 30, 1996[18] |
Release years by system: 1996 – Windows[18] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: August 31, 1997[19] |
Release years by system: 1997 – Windows[19] 2002 – macOS[20] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: September 30, 1997[25] |
Release years by system: 1997 – Windows[25] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: September 30, 1997[26] |
Release years by system: 1997 – Windows[26] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: October 31, 1998[27] |
Release years by system: 1998 – Windows[27] 1999 – Linux[28] 2000 – AmigaOS[29] 2002 – macOS[20] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: March 27, 2000[30] |
Release years by system: 2000 – Windows[30] 2001 – Dreamcast,[30] PlayStation 2,[31] Linux[32] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: September 19, 2000[34] |
Release years by system: 2000 – Windows, macOS[34] 2001 – PlayStation 2[34] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: March 28, 2002[36] |
Release years by system: 2002 – Windows, macOS 2003 – GameCube, Xbox[36] 2019 – Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: May 22, 2002[38] |
Release years by system: 2002 – Windows, macOS[38] 2003 – Xbox[38] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: September 16, 2003[39] |
Release years by system: 2003 – Windows, macOS, Xbox[39] 2020 – Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: September 21, 2004[40] |
Release years by system: 2004 – GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox[40] 2005 – N-Gage[40] |
Notes:
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Original release date: September 20, 2005[41] |
Release years by system: 2005 – GameCube, mobile phones, N-Gage, Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox[41] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: October 18, 2005[42] |
Release years by system: 2005 – Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox 360[42][43] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: October 24, 2006[44] |
Release years by system: 2006 – Game Boy Advance, Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360[44] 2016 – PlayStation 4, Xbox One[44] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: May 1, 2009[45] |
Release years by system: 2009 – Mobile phones, Nintendo DS, Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360[45] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: August 18, 2009[46] |
Release years by system: 2009 – Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360[46] |
Notes:
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Original release date: June 25, 2010[47] |
Release years by system: 2010 – Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360[47] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: November 9, 2010[48] |
Release years by system: 2010 – Nintendo DS, Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360[48] 2012 – macOS[48] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: November 8, 2011[50] |
Release years by system: 2011 – Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360[50] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: November 12, 2012[51] |
Release years by system: 2012 – Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360[51] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: November 5, 2013[53] |
Release years by system: 2013 – Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One[53] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: November 4, 2014[54] |
Release years by system: 2014 – Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One[54] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: January 12, 2015[55] |
Release years by system: 2015 – Windows[55] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: November 6, 2015[56] |
Release years by system: 2015 – Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One[56] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: November 4, 2016[57] |
Release years by system: 2016 – Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One[57] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: November 4, 2016[58] |
Release years by system: 2016 – Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One[58] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: November 3, 2017[60] |
Release years by system: 2017 – Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One[60] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: October 12, 2018[61] |
Release years by system: 2018 – Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One[61] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: October 25, 2019[62] |
Release years by system: 2019 – Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One[62] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: March 10, 2020[63][64] |
Release years by system: 2020 – Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One[65] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: November 13, 2020[66] |
Release years by system: 2020 – Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S[66] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: November 16, 2022 |
Release years by system: 2022 – Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
Notes:
| |
Proposed release date: October 25, 2024 |
Proposed system release: 2024 – Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
Notes:
|
References
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- ^ "Black Crypt Preview". Computer and Video Games. No. 122. EMAP Publishing. January 1992. p. 109. ISSN 0261-3697.
- ^ a b c d "Black Crypt". Raven Software. Archived from the original on February 23, 2007. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ "Great Expectations for 1992". GamePro. No. 31. IDG. February 1992. pp. 40, 42, 46. ISSN 1042-8658.
- ^ "Blueprint – Shadowcaster". PC Zone. No. 7. Dennis Publishing. October 1993. p. 102. ISSN 0967-8220.
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- ^ a b c Kasavin, Greg (December 1, 1998). "Heretic II Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
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- ^ a b c d "Soldier of Fortune". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
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- ^ a b c "Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
- ^ a b c d "X-Men Legends". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
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- ^ a b c "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Wolfenstein". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Singularity". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "Call of Duty: Black Ops". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on June 5, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ a b Scammell, David (July 20, 2011). "Infinity Ward clarifies Raven's involvement with CoD franchise". GamerZines. Cranberry Publishing. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on February 4, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f "Raven Software | Games". Raven Software. Archived from the original on March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Call of Duty: Ghosts". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
- ^ a b c Selinger, Joshua (January 12, 2015). "Activision and Tencent Launch Call of Duty Online in China" (Press release). Activision Publishing. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
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Sources
- Kushner, David (May 11, 2004). Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-7215-3.