Tencent buys Sumo Group for $ 1.3 billion

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Digital sumo

Photo: Digital sumo

British company Sumo Group, whose various studios have worked on everything from Hitman at Power at Disney infinity, was acquired by Chinese giant Tencent for $ 1.3 billion, Reuters report.

The purchase is only the latest from Tencent, which in recent years has invested in or taken possession of other game companies such as:

  • Riot Games (Tencent owns 100% of the shares)
  • Epic Games (40%)
  • No (23%)
  • Activision Blizzard (5%)
  • Ubisoft (5%)
  • Paradox (5%)

As well as smaller investments in companies like PlatinumGames, Roblox and Bohemia Interactive. And that’s just a selection from some of the most well-known studios and publishers. Tencent also owns the video game site Fanobyte.

Sumo Digital was founded in England in 2003, and I very fond memories of one of their first releases, the years 2004 excellent living room console port Exceed 2. Born from the disappearance of Infogrames, Sumo’s first successes led him to open a second studio in 2007, before opening more and more and then acquiring even more, both in the United Kingdom and in France. ‘foreign.

At the time of their takeover by Tencent – which already had an 8% stake in the company –Sumo had five main studios across England and five other subsidiaries, including Polish studio PixelAnt, that Sumo just bought in February.

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Coincidentally, last week The Guardian published a long report on the extent where Chinese companies like Tencent have been able to exert their influence in the global video game market, from difficulties in getting Paradox’s games published in China to reports of a change in the way League of Legends Riot developers were able to design their world, being asked to “consider the supposed preferences of the Chinese market when designing characters.”

Last year, Tencent was targeted by then-President Donald Trump, who tried (and ultimately failed) to ban US businesses and customers from dealing with any of the company’s departments, from the WeChat messaging service to potentially any Tencent video game.

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