Former Ritual CEO confirms move away from SiN series

Ken Harward, former CEO and now studio director at Ritual Entertainment, has confirmed that the company is putting aside the SiN episodes project to focus on casual gaming titles.

The news comes just a week after it was announced that casual games company Mumbo Jumbo had acquired Ritual. The move which came as a surprise to many in the industry, and there has since been much speculation over the future of the SiN franchise.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Harward said that the acquisition was designed to enable Mumbo Jumbo to produce more games for the casual market - "So we're not focusing on the SiN franchise right now. We need to put all of our energy towards the new games."

However, that's not to say that the company has entirely ruled out turning its attentions back to SiN if circumstances change. "I'm sure if there was a business opportunity, appropriate consideration would be given," Harward said.

He went on to dismiss suggestions that to move towards casual games was a surprising shift for Ritual, stating, "It might seem like a radical departure, but that's because the community only sees Ritual through the products that get released. The community never sees the other games that Ritual has started, or the interests of the team, or the things we do on the side."

Harward said that during his six year stint at Ritual he's worked on an RTS, a handheld platformer and an RPG - despite the fact that Ritual is best known for producing first-person shooters.

"The community just never sees it. Instead, they see the games that a publisher finally chooses to ship. And while we've worked hard on those games and are proud of the work, it doesn't mean that those were always Ritual's favourite choices, or that those games always represented what we really wanted to make," Harward explained.

"Those were the titles that we had a contract to build at the time. It is as simple as that."

Visit GamesIndustry.biz next week to read the full interview.