UPDATED: Activision Pulls Raven Off Bond Game, Designing Call Of Duty Maps

29 Comments

Posted May 13, 2010 - By pklepek

Activision Pulls Raven Software Off Bond Game, Now Designing Call Of Duty Maps

UPDATE 2:35 PM: Activision has responded to my earlier report, but they're not saying anything.

"Activision does not comment on rumor and speculation," said a company spokesperson.

ORIGINAL STORY: Besides World of Warcraft, there's no franchise more important to Activision than Call of Duty. With Infinity Ward recovering from a mass resignation of senior employees, Activision is looking for more developers to work on the franchise. I've been informed by multiple sources familiar with the situation, all of whom chose to remain anonymous, that Activision has tasked Raven Software with making Call of Duty: Black Ops map packs and put one of their games on hold in the process.

There are at least two main development teams at Madison, Wisconsin-based Raven Software. One team is currently finishing work on one of Activision's only new properties in 2010, Singularity. I'm told another team, whose last game was the Wolfenstein reboot from last summer, was in the early development and design phases of a stealth-centric James Bond game. That project is now on hold.

After suffering some delays, Singularity is on track for a release on June 29.

The James Bond/Wolfenstein team has been tasked to work on a series of map packs for Treyarch's in-development follow-up to Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Activision has not responded to my requests for comment on the situation at Raven Software.

The future of Call of Duty has been an open question since Activision fired former Infinity Ward leadership Jason West and Vince Zampella in early March. Following the firings, dozens of senior designers, programmers and artists at Infinity Ward have resigned from the studio, with many of them following West and Zampella to their new Electronic Arts-backed company, Respawn Entertainment.

Unlike Infinity Ward, however, Respawn owns the rights to their now-unannounced next game.

Raven Software suffered a setback last August after shipping X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Wolfenstein. The developer was forced to lay off nearly 60 employees to "better reflect the studio's upcoming slate," according to Activision last summer. Only Singularity was known at the time.

Treyarch's finishing work on the next game in the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops, scheduled for release in November. The latest installment is coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii.

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Tags: Fall of Duty, Videogames

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CBOBLACKMAGIC

There is one thing i wont be buying trayarchs game,after what they tryed to do to my website. im a dedicated callofduty player,i created a clan blackops, got a domin for it codblackops, and trayarch tryed to steal my domain before they launched there teaser,iv got all the e.mail and proof ,it even reached the newspapers. thats the thanks you get from makers of callofduty when you try to create a dedicated team of players

Posted: July 6, 2010 12:57 PM
Cathartic Denoument

3 Points:

Maaann..It sucks that Raven Software got pulled from working on a James Bond game (hopefully the GoldenEye remake that was supposed to come this year).
I was really looking forward to that GoldenEye remake coming out this year; now it doesn't look like it'll even happen.
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Wow..CoD:BO seems to be one of the first games I've seen to TRULY be a multiplatform STRAIGHT from launch - the Wii & the PC are included.
Oh but then I wonder if the Mac gets some love too..hmmm..
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The next game Treyarch should make should be a completely new IP.
They should totally try their hands at making a full-fledged zombie-shooter game, similar to the Nazi Zombies addition to W@W. Bet they'd make BANK with that game!
L4D zombies are just TOO fast for my taste.

Posted: May 18, 2010 9:19 PM
Papa_Mudd

@MasterFast
Treyarch started working on this title way before MW2 was even released... Also since COD3 there has been a new title in the series annually. MW, WAW, MW2, Black Ops have all been scheduled with november release dates. So it is really unrelated to the IW drama altogether. However, I do see your point in not wanting to get another ACTI game due to their f*d up procedures. I returned all my 2k games because of their shenanigans with Bio Shock 2 "DLC" which wasn't DLC at all...

Also IMO MW2, while had great reviews and great sales, was a complete flop and was greatly over hyped and still is. There a lot of balance issues with that game that will not be fixed, especially in light of the IW drama. On the other hand Treyarch really does listen to its fans and makes it a point to follow up properly when serious issues arise. If I hadn't already been looking forward to this game since May of '09 I'd probably not buy it either.

Posted: May 15, 2010 12:04 PM
MasterFast

I don't think I'll be getting black ops anyway. Especially after what Activision did to IW. But that's been said.
The main reason I won't be getting black ops is because it's coming pretty soon after MW2, (but a new game in a year isn't all that rare, *cough*) and REALLY soon after this whole IW vs. Activision mess. I have no idea whether it's just the game Treyarch was making anyway and November was the release date, if Activision pushed them to release it sooner, or if Activision pushed them to make the game in general, following the whole ordeal. If it's either of the latter two options I have little faith that the game will actually be any good.

Posted: May 14, 2010 9:25 PM
Papa_Mudd

To me ^THIS^ is the only scenario where this makes sense, they are trying to get treyarch to make a MW3 by next year...

However I'm sure this is ACTI's doing and possibly not up to Treyarch. I'm not really a fan of the MW titles, especially 2, should have bought wolfenstein instead looked a lot more fun, and I took back MW2 back in about a month anyways...

Treyarch should just defunct with IW and join Respawn... I mean seriously they both put out good/decent games

However, if there is another castle defense bonus game on Black Ops with a sci fi twist of some sort, ie: zombies/aliens, then Raven that might be right up raven's alley

Posted: May 14, 2010 12:21 AM
Rogue4Twenty

Ya, i would like to see a Zombie Squat out a trophy for me at level 99.... WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ZOMBIES? It's supposed to be a true feeling of hopelessness, and knowing that there is no end is a pretty good dismal feeling. Nazi Zombies and Spec Ops are the only good things to come out of COD. I understand that people that aren't very good at gaming fall back on the overeasy COD multi player, but if you haven't beat Spec Ops, does your 10th prestige mean anything? i got my platinum trophy, you don't!!! I know, tear it up...

BTW, MAG and Uncharted 2 have better multiplayer, WAY BETTER!!! get off your cheap asses and expand your game collection. COD is yesterday's news.

Posted: May 13, 2010 5:03 PM
the_big_king_jdowg

what is the point of zombies? Besides the objective of holding them off, you spend hours on end before you know it its 4 oclock in the morning, and you done nothing, it is unhealthy to sit in front of the tv that long, both physically and mentally. It never ends you don't get any rewards for it.

Posted: May 13, 2010 3:08 PM
the_big_king_jdowg

Treyarch is letting everybody know that theres more the the dog house than people have seen or think. Get ready for thier answer to Modern Warfare.

Posted: May 13, 2010 2:52 PM
vanapes

Well I think having a new devoloper will help them target the spots they missed in World at War

Posted: May 13, 2010 2:29 PM
will3792

good to see Wisconsin finally getting some love.
other than that, i don't think ill be buying black ops. seems a little too asinine...

Posted: May 13, 2010 1:31 PM
IamtheBat

What's so bad? That they might put a little more effort into a game?

Posted: May 13, 2010 1:23 PM
xL7717

I see no logic to this.

Why can't Treyarch make the Map Packs? They are EXCELLENT when it comes to Map Packs IMO.

Posted: May 13, 2010 12:55 PM
gravy666

Activision said a while back:

"We look forward to continuing to work with Infinity Ward's deep bench of proven talent on exciting new projects."

lol@noobs

Posted: May 13, 2010 12:25 PM
mittens1231

dude the reason people talk about zombies is because they love it! i take my share of zombies anyday. I prefer the zombies in WaW over L4D because i like taking my time and blasting heads with my shotty. The people have spoken!

WE WANT MORE ZOMBIES!

Posted: May 13, 2010 12:00 PM
GohanEgret

While work is work, I imagine that it's a bit disheartening to go from planning a full retail product to having to create level spaces for some other developer's game.

Posted: May 13, 2010 12:00 PM
drug_x

I think they plan on trying to milk the map packs for Black Ops, so instead of getting treyarch to make 2 or 3 map packs you can add Raven Software and get around 5 map packs for the one game.

Posted: May 13, 2010 11:47 AM
BA Barraccus

I have given those scumbags at Activision enough of my money. I'm sure Treyarchs game will be great, but for the simple reason they are under the Activision umbrella I will not be purchasing it.
I will continue to play MW2, but my future games for this year will be LBP2, Red Dead Redemption, and SOCOM 4.
Hopefully Respawn will have something released early next year, I will be first in line for whatever they produce.

Posted: May 13, 2010 11:42 AM
Falconer13

Treyarch is probably going to be slaving away on the next CoD installment so they can get their money for Black Ops.

Posted: May 13, 2010 11:40 AM
enslavednumber

is this true or rumor?

Posted: May 13, 2010 11:31 AM
silver_ninja25

Wait i thought only infinity ward would need someone else to do their map packs, why does treyarch need raven to do it for them? this makes no sense to me...

Posted: May 13, 2010 11:31 AM