While it did not perform well commercially, its positive reception by critics and technology efforts led to John Romero approaching Raven to develop new titles for the personal computer starting with ShadowCaster (1993), which was powered by Raven Engine, a modified Wolfenstein 3D engine designed by John Carmack.

The game's success impressed id Software and Strategic Simulations, who signed a deal to publish the company's next titles, which had grown to two teams to work on 1994's CyClones and Heretic.

The latter, inspired by Brian Raffel's interest in making a Dungeons & Dragons–inspired game, was critically acclaimed, spawned several sequels, and helped Raven grow to three development teams.

In 1986, Brian Raffel was an art teacher at University of Wisconsin–Madison and cross country-track coach at Middleton High School and his brother, Steve, was a screen-print shop.

[6][7][8] Their late father, Don, was an influence on the two growing up playing Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules such as Palace of the Silver Princess, Tomb of Horrors, Lost Tomb of Martek, and Castle Amber, who inspired Brian to draw a concept by the end of 1988 called "The Well"— a paper-and-pen role-playing game originally conceived as a D&D module until Steve came up and reworked it with Brian to be its own thing.

[11] Shortly after established Raven, Brian got together programmers Rick Johnson and Ben Gokey, and musician Kevin Schilder to join the company.

[12][13] Black Crypt production started in April 1990 and lasted nearly two years, with Raffel brothers and the team moving to a $200 per month office, which sat under a workshop in Madison.

In August 2009, following poor performance and possible over-budget of Wolfenstein,[23][24] the company made a major layoff of 30 to 35 staff, leaving two development teams.

Following the layoffs and after id Software was bought over by ZeniMax Media, Raven has since become a primary developer for the Call of Duty series.

One of the associate managers said that "valuable members" were fired although they "were promised, for months, that Activision was working towards a pay restructure to increase their wages".

[33] In June 2022 Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick stated that the company would recognize the union and begin negotiations with it.

Star Wars: Jedi Knight is a series of first- and third-person shooter games with action-adventure hack and slash elements.

[40][41] In 2012, Raven began hiring employees for a game,[42] and were announced as collaborating with Infinity Ward on Call of Duty: Ghosts in May 2013.

Raven is known for its approach to multi-project development teams and choice to use project leads and "state-of-the-art tools" that can help incubate ideas before they evolve into production.

[51] The work culture at Raven is focused in their mentality of team-driven initiatives, extensive playtests, emergent narrative-focused gameplay and less middle-management involvement.

[58][59] Raven co-founder Brian Raffel was inducted on In Business Hall of Fame "for his visionary leadership and unparalled passion in game's industry, shaping a successful company and inspiring countless individuals within the gaming community, helping create a close-knit and collaborative culture among teams that marked him as a true icon".