Tencent is buying Sumo Group for $1.3bn

Tencent has announced that they are to buy Sumo Group, the owners of Crackdown 3 and Sackboy developer Sumo Digital, for $1.3 billion. 

This acquisition follows on from the purchase of an initial 10 percent stake back in November of 2019, with Sumo Group chief exec Carl Cavers saying at the time that it will allow the two companies to “explore co-development opportunities.” 

With Tencent now set to be running the show, we can expect a lot more of these co-development opportunities to arise thanks to Tencent’s impressive roster of studios that they own and have significant stakes in. 

According to GamesIndustry.biz, while the future of Sumo’s own IP, such as the indie darling Snake Pass, has not yet been confirmed, the work for hire projects such as Crackdown 3 and Sackboy: A Big Adventure “will continue under the new ownership.”

The UK based Sumo Digital may be Sumo Group’s most appealing asset to Tencent, but it’s far from their only one, as, on top of Sumo studios across the UK and their new publishing wing Secret Mode, they also own The Chinese Room, as well as work for hire studio’s Red Kite Games, Lab42, and PixelAnt.

In a statement about this acquisition offer, Cavers explained that “the opportunity to work with Tencent is one we just couldn’t miss. It would bring another dimension to Sumo, presenting opportunities for us to truly stamp our mark on this amazing industry, in ways which have previously been out-of-reach.”

There’s been no date confirmed for when this deal might be accepted and take place, but reportedly the bosses at Sumo Group are keen for the deal to go ahead, so it’s unlikely it’ll fall through. 

This is hardly the first developer that Tencent has been interested in, as last month they acquired a majority stake in the German Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager.