Video games developer Red Kite Games has agreed a 10 year lease for studio space in Leeds city centre.
The developer is moving to the city from nearby Huddersfield, it was announced over a month ago by parent company Sumo Group.
Carl Cavers: ‘We’re actively looking to increase headcount’.
Red Kite has now agreed to move into the 4th and 5th floors of Park Row House in the city centre. The office deal will see the business take 12,500 sq ft of office space at the Grade II listed building.
Red Kite was founded in 2012 by ex-Rockstar Games developer Simon Iwaniszak. The business provides a range of services to global partners on titles across mobile, console and PC.
In January, Red Kite was acquired by Sheffield-based Sumo Group.
Red Kite currently has 27 staff but Sumo said it is actively looking to grow that number and that was part of the reason for the move to Leeds city centre.
Carl Cavers, CEO of Sumo Group, said: “We’re actively looking to increase headcount there by quite a large amount over the next couple of years.”
Sumo said that Red Kite has already added “positively” to the business but is looking to expand across all of its studios.
Gary Dunn, managing director of Sumo Digital, said: “We are pleased to be opening a new location in Leeds city centre to house the next stage of Red Kite’s journey.
“The prestigious new address at Park Row House 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.”
Park Row House has recently undergone a £750,000 refurbishment programme following the acquisition of the 42,289 sq ft building by Jersey-based investment partnership UKRO.
Floors three, four and five of the building have been upgraded.
Since acquiring the building UKRO has also renewed lease agreements with Icelolly.com and Gravitas Recruitment Group. Other occupiers include St Paul’s Chambers, Search Consultancy and Charlton Morris.
Commercial property firm Sanderson Weatherall’s agency team was appointed to market Park Row House.
Richard Dunn, head of the agency team at Sanderson Weatherall, said: “We’re really pleased to confirm Red Kite Games as a Tenant in the building.
“Located in the heart of the city’s business district, this is a stunning Victorian property and the recent refurbishment has created an interior that appeals to the thriving creative sector in Leeds. With only two small suites still available and good levels of interest we’re hoping to announce that the building is fully let in the near future.”
Last week, Sumo reported revenue of £20.8m for the six months ended 30 June 2019, up from £19.3m in the first half of the previous year.
The Sheffield-based firm also reported pre-tax profit of £1.3m, having registered a pre-tax loss of £2.1m for the same period in 2018.
Sumo has seen its headcount grow by 15 per cent from 592 on December 31, 2018, to 679 on June 30, 2019. Just over 300 of the staff are based in Sheffield.
Mr Cavers saud: “We’ve worked hard to attract talent to the business. We’ve got a very sticky workforce. People love coming to work at Sumo because of the variety and quality of projects that they can work on.”
The fact that the business has operations across different locations means it can access different talent pools, Mr Cavers added.
