Behind-the-scenes at Raven Software and the development of Call of Duty in Wisconsin
Middleton, WIS. (CBS 58) - Brian Raffel has always called Wisconsin home. A former art teacher at the University of Wisconsin, and a graduate himself, he made it a priority to stay in the Badger State when he launched his own business with his brother Steve 35 years ago.
"We realized that, you know, we are from Wisconsin," Raffel said. "We think Midwest. We know there's a lot of talent in the Midwest. Madison is a real amazing place."
They set up shop in the capitol suburb of Middleton and hit the start button in 1990 on Raven Software -- Wisconsin's first video game development studio. Early work included Dungeons and Dragons inspired games like Black Crypt, Heretic and Hexen.
“There were no other game studios in Wisconsin,” says Raffel. “We didn't have internet and things like that, and we had no business background, so we were just doing it from our gut and our passion.”
It was a leap of faith made by brothers with a shared dream.
"It was 1988 Black Friday, like the day after Thanksgiving. We had been working with this friend of ours and making a demo for Dungeons and Dragons," said Raffel. "My brother turned me and said, 'we should (make our own game).' You know, it was just kind of a logical step."
Shortly after, the early building blocks of Raven Software began to be laid.
"Both my brother and I were artists, so once we got Amiga computers and we taught ourselves some really good art skills," said Raffel. "We noticed our art was as good, if not better, than lots of games out there, then we just needed the programming. We were fortunate enough that we found some young people from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater right back in our backyard, and they were working on stuff, and we partnered with them and hired them to start make our first game, Black Crypt."
Brian Raffel working on early titles with Raven Software
As the team at Raven grew, Raffel pulled from lessons learned in his previous career. Leaning on experiences as an art teacher and cross-country coach.
"So, I took a culmination of all those different experiences, and I brought them into when we created Raven, and how we could formulate the game studio," said Raffel. "What I learned from being a teacher was, you know, speaking in front of groups constantly. And, you know, getting that working with people and helping them grow artistically. And when I first got the cross-country team, they were like, you know, towards the bottom of conference, but over time, helping them learn to believe in themselves, and getting this good culture built within team."
The culture and success at Raven were eventually later by video game publisher Activision, which approached Brian about purchasing the studio in 1997. He made it clear from the jump that Raven would need to stay put.
“We knew we'd be more successful here,” says Raffel. “We would not move out to LA. We would not do that. So we wanted to set that off right from beginning.”
Agreeing to keep Brian and his team in Wisconsin, the acquisition by a larger studio gave Raven access to larger franchises such as Star
Wars, Star Trek and Marvel. But perhaps no IP in gaming is larger than Call of Duty. Raven has had a hand in every Call of Duty game released in the last 14 years. That includes their work as one of the lead developers of the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone which has registered more than 100-million downloads.
It's work that has been done in the tight-knit, quant community of Middleton. CBS 58 Sunday Morning producer Jarek Andrzejewski got a tour of their headquarters for a behind-the-scenes look at their process in helping create one of gaming's largest franchises.
“When Call of Duty came about, it was like, everything focused on that,” says Raffel.
A game that size required a multi-skilled team to execute each game’s unique vision.
"I mean, we have 50 different job descriptions here at Raven,” says Raffel. “You have artists, you have people really good at audio, we have writers, we have engineers, we have some on graphics. I don't think people realize that there's that many diversity of job opportunities in this industry.”
The wide-ranging skill sets needed to go from a blank screen to a work of art become apparent inside the halls of Raven. Their motion capture studio is one of few in the state, putting local actors right into the action.
But as you may imagine, being in the business of games can bring about a work hard, play hard approach. A play pit inside Raven allows employees to sit down and play their latest project. Enjoying the fruits of their labor, but more importantly checking for any issues that need to be addressed before their games is launched and played by millions.
Others are starting to see the benefits of playing and working in Wisconsin, new studios have recently decided to call the Madison-area home.
"Respawn was all old Raven people, you know, PUBG was a lot of, almost all Raven people,” says Raffel. “There's like 22 studios in the state now.”
It’s growth Brian is proud of and a trend he wants to see continue.
“Our hope is we stop the brain drain,” says Raffel. “The Wisconsin population is declining a bit."
So, he's kept his community in mind, opening the doors to his studio to inspire the next generation.
"We give tours a lot to different high schools or different groups to see what's going on,” says Raffel “I’ve actually hired by like, five or six employees who did tours with us at one point.”
UW-Madison Men's Basketball visited Raven Software in 2025
He's also been advocating for a 30% tax incentive for video game developers to open studios in Wisconsin -- bipartisan legislation currently being weighed by his neighbors in Madison.
"These are high paying, good quality jobs bringing good people and good families in,” says Raffel. “They'll buy, consume and become good citizens of the state.”
Because he sees the beauty in Wisconsin and the beauty in games, hoping both will soon level up.
“We have a great jump start on great studios and great environment,” says Raffel. “I think Wisconsin is a prime place for people to start evolving with price points and the university here. We're in a good spot with lots of advantages.”
Raven Software's latest work includes the campaigns for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, along with support from other studios under Activision. You can watch a trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 here.