Overview
- Raffel’s departure, announced Thursday by Raven Software, closes the founder’s run that began with the studio’s launch in 1990.
- Studio veteran David Pellas, previously co–studio head, now leads Raven as its sole head with a team of more than 300 developers.
- Under Raffel, Raven shipped 42 games that included 12 original series and work on 18 Call of Duty titles.
- The studio moved from creating hits like Heretic, Hexen, Soldier of Fortune, and Jedi Knight to co-developing Call of Duty projects such as Warzone and recent Black Ops campaigns.
- Raven has operated under Activision since 1997 and now sits within Microsoft’s Xbox group, as peers and collaborators like John Romero praised Raffel’s steady leadership.