Sumo Digital is stepping away from creating its own IP, making a public statement that it is now going to focus “exclusively on development services for partners.”
The statement justifies this by saying that they need to balance “creative ambitions and the commercial realities to ensure the long-term stability and success of our business”. The goal is to become “a premium development partner”, something which is very much in keeping with a good portion of the company’s work to date.
At this time it’s not clear the extent of any associated job losses, though they state that “Unavoidably this transition will have an impact on our studios and people. We are committed to minimising this impact as much as possible, exploring all options to retain talent, and supporting those affected with transparency, care, and compassion.”
Sumo Digital has traditionally been known for their work on other publisher IPs, their most notable games including Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, LittleBigPlanet 3 and pulling Crackdown 3 out of development hell, but starting with 2017’s Snake Pass, they also sought to produce their own IP and branch out from work-for-hire and co-development contracts – even if these provided plenty of work, such as with Hitman, Forza Horizon 4 & 5, and more.
Hopefully this won’t see the company winding down its Secret Mode publishing label, which has generally been the home for the company’s own IP productions, including last year’s Stampede: Racing Royale, DeathSprint ’66, and Still Wakes The Deep from subsidiary The Chinese Room. They’ve also been a broader indie publisher, though, with cute underwater adventure Loddlenaut, bike delivery game Parcel Corps, and neat-and-tidy-’em-up A Little to the Left.
Sumo Digital was founded in 2003 in Sheffield, spending six years as a subsidiary to Foundation 9 Entertainment before regaining independence through a management buyout in 2014, and being acquired by Tencent in 2022.
The company has grown a huge amount in the last decade, and Sumo Group has grown to around 1,400 employees by 2023, opening up or acquiring studios in Nottingham, Newcastle, Leamington, Warrington, Pune and Bangalore. They’ve also further studios including The Chinese Room, Red Kit Games, Lab42, Atomhawk and more.
There’s uncertain times ahead, and hopefully the layoffs and disruption for such a large company – both in the UK and abroad – will be minimal.
Source: Sumo Group
