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According to Raven Software co-founder Brian Raffel, the studio is extremely excited to be leading development of its own Call of Duty campaign after doing essential support work for the franchise for so many years.
IGN's Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Raffel to discuss Raven Software's storied history in the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered (the full episode drops tomorrow), along with discussions on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Hexen, Heretic, Soldier of Fortune, and more.
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When asked what it was like leading their own project after spending years as a support studio for the Call of Duty juggernaut franchise, Raffel said, "It's been really great. We have worked for quite a few years on the Call of Duty franchise. We've loved the franchise... so when we got this opportunity, we were super pumped about it."
"We've done a lot of work on different campaigns over the years, but this one is... directed by [Raven's Creative Director] Dan [Vondrak] and our team... It's an exciting time in the timeline, and one that we felt was ripe for opportunities for some of the things we wanted to do."
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Raffel then pointed out that COD: Black Ops Cold War is the direct sequel to the first game Raven ever teamed with Treyarch to work on, which is a notable landmark for the studio, in and of itself. When asked about the most notable thing about the Black Ops franchise, Raffel said "it's very clever to us... the 'dark stories that people didn't hear...' That's always the most interesting for all of us... 'What's going on behind the scenes?' That's always been an intriguing part for us."
While Raven is responsible for creating some truly excellent games since its inception, such as all-time great Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Raven's last original title was Singularity, which was critically well-received, but didn't sell well for several reasons. When asked if fans could expect more Raven-led projects in the future, Raffel said, "We certainly hope so. I believe this will be successful... I feel like... I can't talk about future work, but... there are always opportunities for us, so keep an eye out."
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For more interviews with the best, brightest, most fascinating minds in the games industry, check out be sure to check out every episode of IGN Unfiltered, which includes talks with The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley, Master Chief co-creator Marcus Lehto, 343's Bonnie Ross, Valve's Robin Walker & Chris Remo, Respawn's Stig Asmussen, and so many more.
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Brian Barnett writes wiki guides, deals posts, features, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian's antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).