MumboJumbo Acquires Ritual Entertainment For Casual Games

Casual publisher/developer MumboJumbo (Luxor) announced that the company has acquired Ritual Entertainment (SiN Episodes), in a move to strengthen MumboJumbo's casual games forces. MumboJumbo, which in a different incarnation was formerly a full-price PC game developer (Myth III: The Wolf Age) is best known as the developer of popular casual PC games such as Luxor: Amun Rising and Chainz 2: Relinked, as well as UltraBall and Twisty Tracks. The company's titles are downloadable at its website, as well as through other portals operated by RealNetworks, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Big Fish, and it operates North American retail distribution for many casual games, even branching into PSP publishing of recent with games such as Luxor 2. Ritual Entertainment currently employs more than 30 individuals, and has been responsible for several mainstream titles, such as 25 To Life, Delta Force - Black Hawk Down, Counter Strike, Painkiller, Quake 4, and the SiN franchise. The move by MumboJumbo follows the company's recent expansion into the home console and handheld gaming markets though titles released for the Nintendo DS, PSP, and over Microsoft's popular Xbox Live Arcade download service. “MumboJumbo established the casual games category at retail, and the purchase of Ritual Entertainment is consistent with our strategy to bring high-quality casual game content to the major platforms,” commented Ron Dimant, who departed from his position as Ritual Entertainment's CEO in 2001 to found MumboJumbo. “The combination of Ritual's high-end, multi-platform expertise and our own industry-leading publishing model will set the bar for quality and sophistication in casual games and create a major industry powerhouse.” He added: “The casual games market is beginning to mature as evidenced by an increase in consumer expectations. Ultimately, the companies providing the best content will win, which is why we are investing so heavily in the development of technology and original IP.”