Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a first person shooter developed by Treyarch and Raven Software. The game was published by Activision on November...
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
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Raven Software is an American game developer founded in 1990 in Madison, Wisconsin by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. The studio is known for Heretic, Hexen, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, X-Men Legends, Wolfenstein, and Singularity, and for its long run on Call of Duty and Warzone. Activision acquired Raven in 1997 as the first studio the publisher ever bought, and the studio now sits under Microsoft and Xbox. David Pellas has been sole studio head since co-founder Brian Raffel retired in April 2026.
Brian and Steve Raffel started Raven as a three person company, and its first game was Black Crypt in 1992. John Romero of id Software noticed the team, and Raven began collaborating with id on games built around id's engines, starting with ShadowCaster. Madison was an unusual place for a game developer to take root, and being away from the usual industry hubs let Raven build its own culture without chasing whatever every other studio was doing.
Raven's early breakthrough came with Heretic and Hexen, dark fantasy shooters built on id Software's technology. Hexen II followed in 1997. Both Heretic and Hexen leaned into magic and gothic atmosphere at a time when most shooters were still sticking to sci-fi and military settings, and that willingness to push the genre somewhere different is what put the studio on the map.
Activision acquired Raven in 1997, making it the first studio the publisher ever bought. That shifted Raven from making its own games to working inside a much larger publishing structure, which brought bigger budgets and reach but less control over which projects the studio got to lead. Under Activision, Raven made Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, X-Men Legends, Quake 4, Wolfenstein in 2009, and Singularity in 2010.
Raven has contributed to every premium Call of Duty game since Black Ops in 2010, and the studio counts 18 Call of Duty installments among the 42 games it has released. That work includes Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, both co-developed with Treyarch. Support work rarely puts a studio's name in the spotlight, but it demands the same technical and creative expertise as leading a project outright. In 2014, Raven also opened a studio in Shanghai to collaborate with Tencent on Call of Duty Online.
Raven has worked on Warzone alongside Infinity Ward since the start of the battle royale's development, and the game changed the studio's position inside Activision. After Warzone passed 100 million players, Raven said it was hiring like crazy just to keep up. Warzone now means a constant stream of seasons, balance patches, new maps, and events, which makes Raven closer to a team running a live product than one finishing a game and moving on to the next.
In December 2021, Activision ended the contracts of 12 Raven QA testers, which set off a strike. Raven's QA staff went on to organize in 2022 as the Game Workers Alliance, one of the first efforts of its kind at a major American game studio. They reached their first union contract with Microsoft in August 2025, after three years of negotiations. QA testers are often among the lowest paid and least secure people in game development despite doing work that is essential to shipping a stable game, and Raven's union became a reference point for organizing at other studios.
Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023 brought Raven under new ownership, but its day to day work is still centered on Call of Duty and Warzone. The studio employs more than 300 people in Madison.
Co-founder Brian Raffel retired in April 2026 after 36 years, ending the Raffel family's time at the studio, since Steve Raffel had left in 2017. David Pellas joined Raven in 2011 as a design director, became co-studio head in 2024, and is now the sole Raven Software studio head.
Singularity's time manipulation mechanics gave it a distinct identity among shooters of its era, but Raven has shown no sign of returning to it. A sequel would mean pulling resources away from Call of Duty.
Jedi Academy's multiplayer built a dedicated community around its lightsaber combat and movement, and it remains one of the best known entries in the Star Wars game library. That kind of tightly scoped, niche multiplayer experience doesn't fit the direction publishers have pushed toward since, which favors large live service games.
Call of Duty is one of the most reliable revenue drivers in the industry, and Raven's expertise is now built around supporting it. That makes a new original game from the studio unlikely in the near term, since it would mean pulling focus from a franchise that consistently performs.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a first person shooter developed by Treyarch and Raven Software. The game was published by Activision on November...
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is a first person shooter game developed by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision. It was released...
Raven Software is best known today as one of the primary developers behind Call of Duty, especially Warzone, though it built its early reputation on Heretic and Hexen in the 1990s.
Raven Software is owned by Activision, which itself became part of Microsoft after Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard closed in 2023.
Yes. Raven Software is actively developing content for Call of Duty, with its primary focus on Warzone.
Raven Software has not released a new single-player game in years, with its output almost entirely centered on Call of Duty and Warzone content since taking on a larger role in the franchise.
Before its Call of Duty work, Raven Software developed Heretic, Hexen, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, and Singularity.
Yes. Raven Software leads development on Call of Duty: Warzone, having grown from a supporting role on the franchise into steering one of its biggest live releases.
Raven Software's quality assurance staff unionized in 2022 following layoffs and pay concerns, forming one of the first recognized unions at a major American game studio.