Red Kite Games, which was recently acquired by Sumo Group, has confirmed it is relocating from Huddersfield, UK, to an “ideally placed larger premises” in the Grade-II listed Park Row House in Leeds. The developer said the move will help the studio to grow “while retaining its roots in the region”, as well as ensure the new base can be used by “the local development community and media” later in the year.
“Based on the volume of work we have, and our immediate recruitment goals, we decided that the time was right to move to bigger premises,” said founder Simon Iwaniszak. “We’re really excited to take Red Kite to the next level in a city full of talent. Huddersfield has been very good to us thanks to our close relationship with the University, but our new home is only a short distance away, so everyone on the team has been able to make the move with us.”
“I am pleased that we are opening a new location in Leeds city centre to house the next stage of Red Kite’s journey,” added Gary Dunn, MD Sumo Digital. “It will provide a springboard to drive growth in this studio as part of Sumo’s goal of increasing headcount in all seven of our studios across the UK and India. I look forward to welcoming many new staff to Red Kite and the Sumo family.”
Sumo Digital bought The Chinese Room – which has since added 17 new staff “across a variety of disciplines” to its team – and then Red Kite Games in February of this year. Sumo, which IPO late last year, had previously been almost exclusively a work-for-hire studio, but its recent acquisitions will at least put the company into the space of creating and managing its own IP, though whether it chooses to self-publish or partner remains to be seen.
Founded in 2003, Sumo Digital will now employ 500+ staff across six studios in Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Brighton (The Chinese Room), Pune in India, and now and Red Kite’s Huddersfield, UK base. This latest acquisition follows the absorption of Newcastle studio CCP Games in January 2018, and The Chinese Room in August 2018. It also recently announced plans to boost its staff count by 15 per cent over the next year. Its recently appointed talent acquisition manager, Kieran Holland, will spearhead the projected growth by mid-2020.
Red Kite Games is hiring programmers, designers, artists, and producers – for more, head to redkitegames.co.uk/careers.
