Chinese gaming giant Tencent has taken a 10% stake in Sheffield’s Sumo Group.
Tencent has acquired 15 million shares, representing a 9.96% interest, in the Group, which owns games developer Sumo Digital. The agreement is via Perwyn, an established investor in the Group and its Crackdown 3 studio.
“We are glad to invest in Sumo Group, a leading independent co-development studio,” said head of Tencent Games Steven Ma. “We look forward to supporting Sumo’s growth and exploring collaborations with the Company to bring more interactive entertainment experiences to global audiences.”
Sumo Group CEO Carl Cavers added: “We are delighted that Tencent have chosen to acquire a shareholding in the company, and we look forward to working with Tencent to explore co-development opportunities.
“When Perwyn invested in Sumo Digital in September 2016 we were a private company with annual revenue of around £24m and operated from three studios in two countries. We are now a public company and, following the recent announcement of our new studio in Warrington in the north west of England, now have ten studios in three countries and reported revenue of more than £38 million for the year ended 31 December 2018.
“I would like to thank Perwyn, once again, for their original investment and for their ongoing support of the business.”
Tencent already fully owns League of Legends developer Riot Games, and has interests in Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard, Bluehole, Glu Mobile, Epic Games, Paradox Interactive, Miniclip, Supercell and Grinding Gear Games.
Sumo Digital was founded in Sheffield in 2003 and has worked on games including Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, Snake Pass, Team Sonic Racing and the Forza Horizon and Hitman series.
