Tencent Wants to Acquire Devs of Crackdown and Sackboy; Impressive Amount at Stake

Sumo Digital is a studio known, among others, for Sackboy: A Big Adventure, developed for Sony, the latest installment of the Crackdown series for Microsoft or Forza Horizon 2 edition for Xbox 360. The developers are associated primarily with working on IPs for other companies. It was recently announced that the Chinese corporation Tencent is ready to buy the studio for 1.72 billion dollars.

It is worth noting that the corporation already owns an 8.75% stake in the company. If everything goes according to plan, Sumo will be another UK studio that will be bought for more than a billion dollars. Previously, such a deal was made by EA when it acquired Codemasters, developers who create popular Formula 1 racing games, among other things.

Sumo's founders have expressed a desire to stay in their positions and continue developing the studio. Carl Cavers, one of the three founders of the company, stated that he sees the acquisition by Tencent as an opportunity to make their presence felt more clearly in the gaming market through ways that were not previously available to them. Cavers believe that Tencent already has a long history of supporting the strategies of the studio management teams it owns. According to him, the Chinese company wants to ensure that they have everything they need to focus on existing projects with their partners at Sumo.

James Mitchell, Tencent's chief strategy officer, added that his company has been a proud investor in Sumo since 2019 and the current acquisition proposal is an evolution of their partnership. He also stated that Tencent is very committed to the gaming industry and has a history of making the entities it supports better with its help. Sumo's games are held in high esteem at the company. Tencent intends to support developers to grow both in the UK and abroad. Mitchell expressed his hope that this will bring profits to other shareholders.

What do you guys think about this? Is Tencent really bringing good changes to the games industry? Or does it pain you to watch this Chinese company become an increasingly powerful player?