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Raven Software

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Raven Software Corporation
Raven
FormerlyRaven Software, Inc. (1990–1997)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedMay 1990; 34 years ago (1990-05)
FounderBrian Raffel
Steve Raffel
Headquarters
8496 Greenway Blvd, Middleton, Wisconsin
,
US
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
Number of employees
350 (2022)[1][2]
ParentActivision (1997–present)
SubsidiariesRaven Shanghai
Websiteravensoftware.com

Raven Software Corporation (trade name: Raven; formerly Raven Software, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Middleton, Wisconsin and part of Activision. Founded in May 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel, the company is most known for its dark fantasy franchise Heretic/Hexen, the first two Soldier of Fortune games, as well as licensed titles based in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series and Marvel Comics's X-Men characters, including 2006's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Since 2011, Raven has been developing multiple Call of Duty games as both lead and support developer.

Raven's first game, Black Crypt (1992), was conceived in the late 1980s by Raffel brothers to be a paper-and-pen role-playing game, until Christopher Erhardt convinced the two to retool the project from scratch to become a video game. While it did not perform well commercially, its well reception by critics and technology efforts led to John Romero approach Raven to develop new titles for personal computer starting with ShadowCaster (1993), which was powered by Raven Engine, a modified Wolfenstein 3D engine version designed by John Carmack. The game's success impressed id Software and Strategic Simulations, who signed a deal to publishing the company's next titles, who had grow to two teams to work on 1994's CyClones and Heretic. The latter, inspired by Brian Raffel interest to make a Dungeons & Dragons–inspired game, was critically acclaimed, spawning several sequels and helping Raven grow to three development teams.

In August 1997, Activision announced it had agreed to acquire Raven and took over the distribution to Hexen II, while the other two Raven teams continued the production on previously announced titles Take No Prisoners and MageSlayer. After 1998's Heretic II, Raven aimed expand its games to a broader audience, acquiring Soldier of Fortune magazine name rights to develop a game of the same name while also working on its first licensed title, Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force. The latter achieved universal acclaim by critics and it has since gained a cult following, encouraging LucasArts collaborate with Raven on Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. The company also continued partnering with id Software, working on Quake 4, the 2009's Wolfenstein and being remarked as one of the first studios to licensing id Tech 4.

In the 2000's, Raven also worked with Marvel Entertainment in some of its superheroes characters, releasing X-Men Legends (2004), X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). This lasted until Raven announced a new intellectual property in over ten years, Singularity, which was released to positive reception in 2010. In 2011, Raven shifted to work in several Call of Duty titles as support developer, and in 2014, the company opened a Chinese studio in Shanghai to work on Call of Duty Online with Tencent Games. Raven worked with Infinity Ward and Treyarch on 2020's Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, leading production in the latter's single-player campaign; it is currently developing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

History

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id Software

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Raven Software was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel.[3] Originally a three-person company, they were discovered by John Romero, co-founder of id Software, who collaborated with Raven to make games using their game engine beginning with ShadowCaster.[4] Raven then started making games with id Software; the company even briefly moved to the same street as id Software.[5] They used id's engines for many of their games, such as Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic and Hexen II.

In 2005 and 2009, Raven developed two games from id's catalog: Quake 4 and Wolfenstein respectively.[6]

Activision

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The company was independent until 1997, when it was acquired by Activision for $12 million.[7] They were still collaborating with id Software but at the same time developed other titles as well such as Soldier of Fortune in 2000, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy in 2003, X-Men Legends in 2004 and many more.

In August 2009, following poor performance and possible over-budget of Wolfenstein,[8][9] the company made a major layoff of 30 to 35 staff, leaving two development teams. This was reduced to one after more layoffs in October 2010, after delays with Singularity; as many as 40 staff were released. Following the layoffs and after id Software was bought over by ZeniMax Media, Raven has since become a primary developer for the Call of Duty series.[10][11][12] By July 2021, Raven Software had grown to roughly 350 employees.[13]

See also: Activision Blizzard worker organization and Microsoft and unions § United States

In December 2021, Activision did not renew the contract of several members of the quality assurance (QA) department that were contract employees. One of the associate managers said that "valuable members" were fired although they "were promised, for months, that Activision was working towards a pay restructure to increase their wages".[14] Following these firings as well as other controversies involving Activision Blizzard, a strike has been initiated.[15][16] On January 21, 2022, Raven's QA team formed a union named the Game Workers Alliance with Communications Workers of America.[17]

In May 2022, workers of the Raven QA team voted to unionize with a count of 19 – 2 in favor.[18] In June 2022 Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick stated that the company would recognize the union and begin negotiations with it.[19] Following the Raven QA team's successful unionization, the 20-member QA team of Blizzard Albany announced a unionization drive in July 2022 as GWA Albany.[20] The vote passed (14–0), forming the second union at an Activision Blizzard subsidiary.[21]

On March 8, 2024, 600 QA testers at 3 Activision studios in Austin, Texas, Eden Prairie, Minnesota and El Segundo, California joined Raven and Blizzard's unionizations to form the union "Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA" and voted to unionize (390–8) in favor, making it the largest video game union in the United States. Following Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, who included Raven Software, the company voluntarily recognized the union.[22][23][24]

Games

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Main article: List of Raven Software games

In 2012, Raven began hiring employees for a game,[25] and were announced as collaborating with Infinity Ward on Call of Duty: Ghosts in May 2013.[26]

On April 3, 2013 following the closure of LucasArts, Raven Software released the source code for Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy on SourceForge under the GPL-2.0-only license.[27]

In April 2014, the company became lead developer of the now shutdown free-to-play Chinese Call of Duty title, Call of Duty: Online.[28] The company also remade Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered.[29]

In 2020, Raven Software collaborated with Infinity Ward on the game Call of Duty: Warzone. The company is considered the face of maintaining, updating and debugging the game as they regularly provide status updates and patch notes on Twitter and their official website (though it is unclear if they are the sole studio responsible behind-the-scenes).[30][31][32]

Raven developed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with Treyarch, which released on November 13, 2020.[33]

Raven is currently developing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 with Treyarch, which is expected to release on October 24, 2024.

Development philosophy

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Raven is known for its approach to multiple development teams and choice to use project leads and "state-of-the-art tools" that can help incubate ideas before evolve into production.[34] Eric Biessman, Raven's project director, said: "It's very laid back here. We're left alone to be as creative as we can be".[34] The work culture at Raven is focused in their mentality of team-driven initiatives, extensive playtests and less middle-management involvement.[35][36][37] Brian Raffel ascribes the company's motto as "move or die", explaining that different directions and creative opportunities are a key element in game design to help Raven determinate which market and public their projects are visioning.[38][39] The studio's vice-president Steve Raffel also head Raven Scout Team (RST), a research group within the company who spend time with analysis, planning and creating vertical slices-based methods to be purposeful improved in company's future projects.[34][40]

Accolades

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Raven was listed in 2016 by Fortune as the 77th best place to work, and the 66th best in 2017, both as part of Activision Blizzard studios.[41][42]

References

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  1. ^ "Raven Software employees win union election". The Washington Post. May 23, 2022.
  2. ^ "Activision Blizzard's Raven Software workers vote to form industry's first union". The Guardian. May 23, 2022.
  3. ^ "Raven Software - About the Studio". ravensoftware.com. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  4. ^ Romero, John. "The Early Days of id Software". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  5. ^ "From Dungeon & Dragons to Call of Duty: The Story of Raven Software". USgamer.net. October 28, 2014. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  6. ^ "id Software and Activision, Inc. Confirm Wolfenstein(R) for the Xbox 360 Video Game and Entertainment System". PR Newswire. October 5, 2005.
  7. ^ Kaplan, Karen (August 7, 1997). "Activision to Expand Game Lineup with Raven Purchase". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  8. ^ Ivan, Tom. "Raven Software Hit By Layoffs". Archived from the original on September 5, 2012.
  9. ^ Crecente, Brian (August 26, 2009). "Raven Hit By Layoffs, Some Point to Lackluster Wolfenstein Sales". Kotaku. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  10. ^ "Report: Layoffs Hit Raven Software, Focusing on DLC". Shacknews.com. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  11. ^ "Raven Software Loses More Staff". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  12. ^ Crecente, Brian (October 11, 2010). "Singularity Game Developer Hit with Layoffs". Kotaku. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  13. ^ "Analysis: Call of Duty Warzone's developer has grown by nearly 50% in a year". Video Games Chronicle. July 19, 2021.
  14. ^ Obedkov, Evgeny (December 7, 2021). "Call of Duty: Warzone developers protest layoffs of contract testers who were promised promotions". Game World Observer. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  15. ^ Nightingale, Ed (December 7, 2021). "Raven Software employees walk out following layoffs in the QA team". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  16. ^ "Blizzard QA Staff Join Walkout As Raven Software Strike Continues". GameSpot. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  17. ^ "Workers at Activision Blizzard-owned game studio Raven Software vote to unionize". Los Angeles Times. January 21, 2022.
  18. ^ Liao, Shannon (May 23, 2022). "Raven Software employees win union election". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  19. ^ LeBlanc, Wesley. "Activision Blizzard CEO Says Company Will Recognize Raven Software Union And Begin Negotiations". Game Informer. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  20. ^ "Blizzard QA workers in Albany are organizing Activision's second union". July 19, 2022. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  21. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (December 2, 2022). "Blizzard Albany becomes second unionized studio at Activision Blizzard". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  22. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (March 8, 2024). "600 Activision QA workers unionize, Microsoft voluntarily recognizes". Polygon. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  23. ^ Parrish, Ash (March 9, 2024). "Activision QA workers form the largest US video game union yet". The Verge. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  24. ^ Eidelson, Josh (July 24, 2024). "Microsoft's 'World of Warcraft' Gaming Staff Votes to Unionize". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  25. ^ Hinkle, David (November 2, 2012). "Raven job listings suggest next-gen game in the works". Joystiq. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  26. ^ Pitcher, Jenna (May 22, 2013). "Raven Software and Neversoft assisted Infinity Ward in Call of Duty: Ghosts development". Polygon. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  27. ^ Hinkle, David (April 4, 2013). "Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy source code released". Joystiq. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  28. ^ "Raven Software now the lead developer on CoD: Online for China". CharlieIntel. April 17, 2014. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  29. ^ Scammell, David (May 2, 2016). "Modern Warfare Remastered is developed by Raven; first multiplayer maps confirmed". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  30. ^ Park, Morgan (January 20, 2021). "So, who's making Call of Duty: Warzone now?". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  31. ^ Duwe, Scott (August 11, 2021). "Raven Software says it banned 50,000 additional accounts from Call of Duty: Warzone today alone". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  32. ^ "Call of Duty: Warzone Season Six Patch Notes". www.ravensoftware.com. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  33. ^ August 2020, Alyssa Mercante 04 (August 4, 2020). "Call of Duty 2020 confirmed by developers Treyarch and Raven Software". gamesradar. Retrieved August 5, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ a b c R. Conklin, Aaron (September 16, 2005). "Soaring into Year 15 Middleton-based Raven Software is set to release two A-List video games in the coming weeks". Wisconsin State Journal. Lee Enterprises. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  35. ^ Kassulke, Natasha (August 1, 1999). "In video-game wars, Raven is the victor". Wisconsin State Journal. Lee Enterprises. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  36. ^ Staff (March 2003). "Activision's X-Factor". Game Informer. No. 119. GameStop. pp. 30–43.
  37. ^ "An "Everyone Plays" culture: Raven Software's Senior Lead Artist on the development of Warzone's Caldera". Activision Blog. Activision Blizzard. April 18, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  38. ^ Brudvig, Eric (February 20, 2009). "D.I.C.E. 2009: Raven's Lessons Learned". IGN. Ziff Davis, Inc. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  39. ^ Mattone, James (May 26, 2020). "Raven Software celebrates 30th Anniversary". Activision Blog. Activision Blizzard.
  40. ^ "Advanced Warfare Developed and Designed by Sledgehammer Games" (PDF). Activision Press Release. Activision Blizzard. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  41. ^ "Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® 2016". Fortune. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  42. ^ "Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® 2017". Fortune. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
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