Tencent is Probably Going to Buy Sumo Group

Tencent is doing what they do best, as it was just announced they’ve acquired — or at least, they’re about to — a brand-new studio. This time, their eyes are on the folks at Sumo Group, who have worked on a little bit of everything: including Little Big Planet, Sonic Racing, Hitman, Disney Infinity, and Forza. Given that they’re such a prestigious studio, you can wager that the price tag wasn’t cheap, and indeed it wasn’t: for a complete takeover of the group and all the different studios under their wing, Tencent has offered a whooping 1.3 billion dollars. And the only thing Sumo needs to cash that check is have its shareholders approve the offer.

Because the deal isn’t final yet, neither Sumo nor Tencent have commented much on the deal, but considering how these things historically go we know exactly what they’ll say - “we’re so excited to work with Tencent, this is a great opportunity for our studio, don’t worry we’ll still be able to put out the same great games without any kind of interference”. It’s the same script that was spat out by Klei Entertainment, Funcom, Runic Games, and just about every studio that’s been swallowed by this enormous conglomerate. A script that’s become significantly harder to swallow after The Guardian posted a new article detailing all the ways that Tencent has been shaping the video game market in their image.

For example, the article mentions that Tencent had strong opinions on what kind of characters League of Legends could create, which would help explain why Riot Games has largely stopped creating monsters and beasts:
 

“They said things like, ‘they [Chinese gamers] don’t really love grotesque monsters, goblins and ogres,” the designer recalled. “They like the pretty, young, more anime style.’” She remembers a long discussion about “butts” and the subtle differences between drawing them for east and west. Another time, they talked about mermaids. “A mermaid is great because she has a female torso and fish bottom,” she was told. “Here’s what’s not great: a fish head and sexy legs.”

In any case, it is what it is. I don’t really see a case where Sumo Shareholders would say no to a 1.3 billion dollar payday, so I expect we’ll be hearing something official from them real soon.