Sumo Group will lay off up to 15% of its staff across its studios as it looks to reduce costs.
According to the company’s website, it employs more than 1,650 staff, meaning redundancies could impact as many as 250 people.
Sumo said job losses would hit its studios across the UK, Canada, Poland, Czech Republic and India.
“Difficult decision”
The company said it had “not been immune” to recent industry challenges that have seen scores of layoffs across the sector.
It stated it would be reshaping its operations to “better navigate the upcoming challenges expected in the coming months” to “ensure the security of the business going forward”.
“The difficult decision to reduce our costs across the business in a number of ways is a direct result of these challenges, and unfortunately will include a reduction in the number of people the business can support,” read a statement.
“Every alternate route to limit the impact to our people is being considered but sadly this process of transformation will affect up to 15% of our people across the Group in Canada, UK, Poland, Czech Republic and India.
“This is an incredibly challenging process to go through for everyone at Sumo and our focus is now on supporting our people and working with our partners on their games as we move forward to ensure we emerge from this difficult time, ready for the future.”
Development partner
Sumo Group was founded in 2003 and has worked with numerous partners to create games, with services such as co-development and full game production. Its subsidiaries have also worked on their own fully-owned IP.
It has significant operations in the UK, with offices in Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Leamington and Warrington. Its subsidiaries also include Red Kit Games, Lab42, The Chinese Room, Atomhawk, Timbre Games, Midoki and Auroch Digital.
Games the company has worked on in the past include Team Sonic Racing, Crackdown 3, Sackboy: A Big Adventure and Little Orpheus.
Chinese publishing giant Tencent acquired Sumo Group in a $1.3 billion deal in 2022.
