The British company Sumo Group, whose various studios have worked on everything from Hitman to power to Disney infinity, was bought by Chinese giant Tencent for a whopping $ 1.3 billion. Reuters report.
The purchase is merely the latest from Tencent, who have invested in or acquired other gambling companies in recent years, such as:
- Riot Games (Tencent owns a 100 percent stake)
- Epic Games (40%)
- Don’t nod (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 of some of the better-known studios and publishers. Tencent also owns the video game site Fanbyte.
Sumo Digital was originally founded in England in 2003 and I have very fond memories of one of their first releases in 2004 Excellent Home console port from Outlet 2. Born from the demise of Infogrames, sumo’s early success led it to open a second studio in 2007 before opening more and more and then buying more in the UK and overseas.
At the time of the purchase by Tencent – who previously held 8% of the shares in the company –Sumo had five main studios across England and another five subsidiaries, including the Polish studio PixelAnt, who sumo bought himself in February.
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Just happened last week The guard published a detailed report on the extent on which Chinese companies like Tencent have had their say in the global video game market, from problems with the release of Paradox games in China to reports of a shift in the path League of Legends Developers Riot were able to design their world and were asked to “consider the assumed preferences of the Chinese market when designing characters”.
Last year Tencent was targeted by then-President Donald Trump. who tried (and ultimately failed) to prohibit US businesses and customers from using the company’s services, from the messaging service WeChat to possibly one of Tencent’s video games.
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