Raven Software once worked on a live service COD Zombies game and a sequel to a ‘classic Raven IP’
Both games were cancelled, according to a former lead designer
Raven Software was once working on a live service Call of Duty: Zombies game, according to a former lead designer at the studio.
As reported by MP1st, Michael Gummelt – who worked at Raven for 23 years and was a project lead and lead designer on the Call of Duty series between 2010 and 2021 – posted information about the cancelled games on his LinkedIn page.
According to Gummelt, between November 2011 and June 2012 he was lead designer on an “unreleased Call of Duty: Zombies live service game”.
Gummelt’s description for the role reads: “Lead Designer on an ambitious new Call of Duty: Zombies live service project. Canceled when the [Activision] studio that ‘owned’ that part of the Call of Duty IP wanted it back. ”
Gummelt also lists a more recent cancelled project, claiming that between June 2019 and March 2020 he was lead designer on an “unreleased sequel to a classic Raven IP”.
Describing the project, Gummelt says he was the “lead developer on a very small incubation team on two highly playable, well-developed prototypes as proof of concept for a revival of a classic Raven IP”. He says the project was “part of the Activision ‘Press Start’ initiative, which ended soon after Warzone launched and was successful.”
Although Gummelt doesn’t name which classic IP was being revived, Heretic and its sequel Hexen are considered two of the studio’s most iconic games and are likely contenders.
Raven Software most recently co-developed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with Treyarch and Call of Duty: Warzone with Infinity Ward, both in 2020.
In June 2022 a group of QA workers at Raven formed the Game Workers Alliance, which was the first labour union at a major US gaming company
