Tencent acquires 10% stake in Team Sonic Racing studio’s parent company

Tencent has acquired a 9.96% stake in Sumo Group, the parent company of Team Sonic Racing studio Sumo Digital.

The Chinese tech giant acquired the stake from Perwyn, a private equity business and investor which retains a 17.38% interest in Sumo Digital.

Steven Ma, head of Tencent Games, said: “We are glad to invest in Sumo Group, a leading independent co-development studio. We look forward to supporting Sumo’s growth and exploring collaborations with the company to bring more interactive entertainment experiences to global audiences.”

Carl Cavers, CEO of Sumo Group, said: “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 £38m for the year ended 31 December 2018.”

Sumo Digital’s most recent game was May’s Team Sonic Racing, while it also contributed to fellow 2019 releases Crackdown 3 and Mortal Kombat 11, as well as Forza Horizon 4 and Hitman 2 in 2018.

The company announced in July that it’s working on multiple undisclosed projects for Borderlands publisher 2K.

Chinese tech giant Tencent’s globalisation strategy has been led by investments in and partnerships with video game companies.

As well as owning League of Legends maker Riot Games, it has a 40% stake in Epic Games, and holds shares in Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft and PUBG Corporation parent company Bluehole, among others.

It’s also currently helping Nintendo launch Switch in the Chinese market, and reportedly wants to develop console games using Nintendo characters in a bid to grow its business in the US and Europe.