Ritual Entertainment

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Short description {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} 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 they began development of their 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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In late 1997, Hipnotic changed their name to Ritual Entertainment in order to avoid a trademark conflict with another video-game developer, Hypnotix.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

On January 24, 2007, developer MumboJumbo announced the acquisition of Ritual Entertainment.<ref>Ritual Entertainment Acquired By Casual Games Developer January 24, 2007. Template:Webarchive.</ref> 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, 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,<ref>id Software Welcomes New Member. Template:Webarchive. Planet Quake, Friday, December 1, 2006.</ref> 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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Ritual Apparently Not Exploded, Announces New Studio Director. Ritualistic Forums.</ref>

Following the company's closure, many of the deveopers have left to other companies such as id Software, Gearbox Software, Nerve Software, Escalation Studios, and the now-defunct Paradigm Entertainment.

Games developed

Year	Title	Platform(s)						Notes
		Windows	Linux	macOS	PS2	Xbox	Dreamcast
1997	Quake Mission Pack No. 1: Scourge of Armagon	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Partial	Expansion pack
1998	SiN	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Linux version ported by Hyperion Entertainment
2000	Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	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	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:N/A
2003	Star Trek: Elite Force II	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:N/a
2003	Legacy of Kain: Defiance	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	External collaboration with Crystal Dynamics
2004	Counter-Strike: Condition Zero	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	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	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Expansion pack
2006	SiN Episodes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Only one episode, "Emergence", was released
2006	25 to Life	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	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

External links

• Official website via Internet Archive
• Ritualistic - Ritual's Online Community Hub