Editing Ritual Entertainment (section)

==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>{{cite magazine|first=Colin|last=Campbell|title=Apogee Fuming |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] |issue=29|publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|date=May 1997 |page=30}}</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>{{cite magazine |title=NG Alphas: SiN |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=37 |publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |date=January 1998 |pages=128–129}}</ref>

On January 24, 2007, developer [[MumboJumbo]] announced the acquisition of Ritual Entertainment.<ref>[http://www.playfuls.com/news_9082_Ritual_Entertainment_Acquired_By_Casual_Games_Developer.html Ritual Entertainment Acquired By Casual Games Developer] January 24, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905055900/http://www.playfuls.com/news_9082_Ritual_Entertainment_Acquired_By_Casual_Games_Developer.html |date=September 5, 2008 }}.</ref> With this acquisition, Ritual's focus on traditional action-oriented games was changed to [[casual game]]s, essentially "stalling" Ritual's latest game series, ''[[SiN Episodes]]'', after releasing only one [[episodic gaming|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>[http://planetquake.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=108741 id Software Welcomes New Member]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116093420/http://planetquake.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=108741 |date=November 16, 2007 }}. 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>{{cite web |url=http://www.ritualistic.com/newsarticle.php?id=1840 |author=badman |title=badman Writes Long Post, Steps Into Teleporter and Disappears |date=2007-05-06 |website=Ritualistic |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927015313/http://www.ritualistic.com/newsarticle.php?id=1840 |archive-date=2011-09-27}}</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>[http://ritualistic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18781 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]].