Brian Raffel, co-founder of Raven Software, is retiring after 36 years leading the studio. Raven Software announced the news on X, highlighting his role in creating games from Black Crypt to support on Call of Duty titles. The studio traced its history from independent beginnings to its current focus on Activision's Warzone and annual sequels.
Raven Software shared the retirement news on X on April 2. The post recalled how Raffel and his brother Steve started the studio in 1990 with Black Crypt, driven by a passion for storytelling. It praised Raffel's leadership through industry changes, crafting stories in realms from dark fantasies to distant galaxies that impacted players worldwide. The announcement linked to a studio website page detailing its full game history. Early titles included Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, and Hexen II, built on the Quake engine with Doom designer John Romero producing the first two. Activision acquired the studio in 1997, followed by Soldier of Fortune in 2000. During the 2000s, Raven developed licensed hits like Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, X-Men Legends I and II, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The studio's last original IP, Singularity in 2010, featured time-manipulation mechanics in a sci-fi horror shooter. Since then, Raven has supported Call of Duty projects, starting with Black Ops DLC, advancing to co-developing Warzone and Black Ops Cold War in 2020. Today, it bolsters Warzone and yearly sequels. In a 2014 interview with USgamer, Raffel reflected, “I think we’ve got a very diverse and very successful portfolio. Also, the ability to adapt ourselves and not get stuck on our own press, and in a certain mode to not sit on our laurels, and I think that’s why we’ve been around for 25 years.”
