Ritual Entertainment was an American video game developer established in 1996 by Robert Atkins, Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dosé, Richard 'Levelord' Gray, Michael Hadwin, Harry Miller, and Tom Mustaine. Based in Dallas, Texas, Ritual Entertainment was formerly known as Hipnotic Interactive, during which period it began development of its signature video game SiN.
History Members of the Ritual Entertainment development team have contributed assets to other games such as American McGee's Alice, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Tomb Raider: Legend, and 25 to Life, and are also the creators of "Übertools" for id Tech 3, which has been licensed for a number of other games.
Shortly after signing Hipnotic, publisher Activision claimed that Hipnotic had been at the core of the Duke Nukem 3D development team. Duke Nukem 3D developer 3D Realms vigorously denied this, stating that only five members of Hipnotic Interactive were former staff of 3D Realms, and of these five only three had a significant role in making Duke Nukem 3D.
In late 1997, Hipnotic changed its name to Ritual Entertainment in order to avoid a trademark conflict with another video-game developer, Hypnotix.
On January 24, 2007, developer MumboJumbo announced the acquisition of Ritual Entertainment.Ritual Entertainment Acquired By Casual Games Developer January 24, 2007. . With this acquisition, Ritual's focus on traditional action-oriented games was changed to casual games, essentially "stalling" Ritual's latest game series, Sin Episodes: Emergence, after releasing only one episode out of a planned nine.
The purchase followed months of departures of several key employees, including chief executive officer Steve Nix, who became director of business development at id Software,id Software Welcomes New Member. . Planet Quake, Friday, December 1, 2006. vice president and co-founder Tom Mustaine, who left to found Escalation Studios. Several months after the acquisition, community relations manager Steve Hessel left the company to join Splash Damage.
Prior to the announcement, on December 6, 2006, Ritual announced the appointment of Ken Harward as the company's new studio director.Ritual Apparently Not Exploded, Announces New Studio Director . Ritualistic Forums.
Following the company's closure, many of the developers have left to other companies such as id Software, Gearbox Software, Escalation Studios, and the now-defunct Nerve Software and Paradigm Entertainment.
Games developed Year Title Platform(s) Notes Windows Linux macOS PS2 Xbox Dreamcast 1997 Quake Mission Pack No. 1: Scourge of Armagon Expansion pack 1998 SiN Linux version ported by Hyperion Entertainment 2000 Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 Linux version ported by Loki Software, Mac OS Classic version ported by Contraband Entertainment, Mac OS X version ported by The Omni Group 2000 Blair Witch Volume III: The Elly Kedward Tale 2003 Star Trek: Elite Force II 2003 Legacy of Kain: Defiance External collaboration with Crystal Dynamics 2004 Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Ritual Entertainment worked on the game in 2002 after development was transferred from Gearbox Software and before continued development was transferred to Turtle Rock Studios in mid-2003. Ritual's contribution included Deleted Scenes and the port to Xbox. 2004 Delta Force: Black Hawk Down: Team Sabre Expansion pack 2006 Sin Episodes: Emergence Only one episode, "Emergence", was released 2006 25 to Life External collaboration with Avalanche Software, cinematics
Unreleased The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PC) – canceled SiN II publisher demo (2003, PC) – Ritual Entertainment made a game demo to show potential publishers. Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy (2004) – canceled SiN Episode 2 – canceled Quake 4: Awakening – unreleased expansion pack for Quake 4
References
External links Official website via Internet Archive Ritualistic - Ritual's Online Community Hub