Sumo Digital

A Sheffield-founded games developer with studios across the UK that builds its own games and works on major titles with partners.

About Sumo Digital

Sumo Digital is a games developer headquartered in Sheffield. It began as a co-development studio, working with other publishers and developers, and it has built a name for helping to make some of the world's biggest games. Its credits include Crackdown 3, Team Sonic Racing, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Hood: Outlaws and Legends, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Hogwarts Legacy, and Gears of War: Reloaded. It has also worked on Warframe content updates since 2024.

Four former managers of Infogrames Studios, Carl Cavers, Paul Porter, Darren Mills and James North-Hearn, founded Sumo in 2003 after their old studio closed. Its first game was OutRun 2, followed by Virtua Tennis and Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing. Its own published game, Snake Pass, began as one designer's idea at an internal game jam. Sumo says it aims to make excellent games while keeping its people at the centre, and to be a strong place to work. Sumo's own site says it has delivered over 90 titles in nearly 20 years of work.

Sumo has city studios across the UK: Sheffield, Nottingham, Warrington, Leamington Spa and Newcastle (Gateshead). Its other brands include Red Kite Games in Leeds, Lab42 in Leamington and Atomhawk, an art studio. It also has teams in Poland and in Pune and Bangalore in India. Wikipedia reports about 1,100 employees in 2023.

Sumo's own site highlights diversity and equality work, and says it has won awards such as Develop:Star Awards Best Studio, Games Industry Best Places to Work and TIGA Best Large Independent Studio. These are the company's claims. Its games have also been nominated for BAFTA Game Awards. Working across many partners means staff often work on different kinds of games, from racing to action and platformers. Sumo has also worked on Forza Horizon 5 and Call of Duty: Vanguard as a co-development partner, and its Sheffield studio is described on its site as a powerhouse of the Yorkshire gaming scene.

A co-development studio needs programmers, artists, animators, designers, producers and test staff, plus specialist art and audio teams. Working on someone else's game means learning to fit in with their style and tools. Sumo's Warrington studio and its Gateshead team, which joined in 2018 as CCP Newcastle, show how the group spreads work across northern England. Sheffield and the other northern studios show that games careers are not only in London. Sumo's careers page lists its current openings.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Working with publishers and studios on major games.', 'title': 'Co-development'}
• {'desc': 'Titles such as Snake Pass and Team Sonic Racing.', 'title': 'Original games'}
• {'desc': 'Art studio work and updates for live games.', 'title': 'Art and live game services'}

Key facts

• Founded 2003 in Sheffield by four ex-Infogrames managers
• UK studios in Sheffield, Nottingham, Warrington, Leamington Spa and Newcastle
• Brands include Red Kite Games (Leeds) and Lab42 (Leamington)
• About 1,100 employees in 2023 (Wikipedia)

Website: www.sumo-digital.com