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Raven Software

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Raven Software
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo game industry
Founded1990; 34 years ago (1990)
FounderBrian Raffel
Steve Raffel
Headquarters
Middleton, Wisconsin
,
United States
Products
Number of employees
173
ParentActivision
WebsiteOfficial website

Raven Software (or Raven Entertainment Software, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Wisconsin and founded in 1990. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them. After the acquisition, many of the studio's original developers, largely responsible for creating the Heretic and Hexen: Beyond Heretic games, left to form Human Head Studios.

History

Raven Software was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. The company was independent until 1997 when it was acquired by Activision.

Raven has a history of working with id Software, who were briefly located on the same street.[1] They used id's engines for many of their games, such as Heretic in 1994. They took over development of id's Quake franchise for Quake 4 and the 2009 iteration of id's Wolfenstein series.[2]

The company started[when?] with three development teams. In August 2009 following poor performance and possible over-budget of Wolfenstein,[3][4] the company made a major layoff of 30-35 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, Raven has been focused on assisting with the Call of Duty series ever since.[5][6][7] A fate compared to Radical Entertainment, as a support team no longer developing their own IP (Intellectual Property) in house.

Games

Main article: List of Raven Software games

In 2012, Raven began hiring employees for a game,[8] and were announced as collaborating with Infinity Ward on Call of Duty: Ghosts in May 2013.[9]

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.[10]

As of April 2014, the company is the lead developer of the free-to-play Chinese Call of Duty title, Call of Duty: Online.[11] The company also remastered Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered.[12]

References

  1. ^ "From Dungeon & Dragons to Call of Duty: The Story of Raven Software". USgamer.net. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  2. ^ "id Software and Activision, Inc. Confirm Wolfenstein(R) for the Xbox 360 Video Game and Entertainment System". PR Newswire. October 5, 2005.
  3. ^ Ivan, Tom. "Raven Software Hit By Layoffs". Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Crecente, Brian (August 26, 2009). "Raven Hit By Layoffs, Some Point to Lackluster Wolfenstein Sales". Kotaku. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  5. ^ "Report: Layoffs Hit Raven Software, Focusing on DLC". Shacknews.com. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ Crecente, Brian (October 11, 2010). "Singularity Game Developer Hit with Layoffs". Kotaku. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  8. ^ Hinkle, David (November 2, 2012). "Raven job listings suggest next-gen game in the works". Joystiq. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  9. ^ Pitcher, Jenna (May 22, 2013). "Raven Software and Neversoft assisted Infinity Ward in Call of Duty: Ghosts development". Polygon. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  10. ^ Hinkle, David (April 4, 2013). "Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy source code released". Joystiq. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  11. ^ "Raven Software now the lead developer on CoD: Online for China". CharlieIntel. April 17, 2014.
  12. ^ Scammell, David (May 2, 2016). "Modern Warfare Remastered is developed by Raven; first multiplayer maps confirmed". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
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