Sheffield based games firm Sumo Digital has announced the acquisition of work-for-hire specialist Red Kite Games.

The studio was picked up for a total of £2 million and marks the third purchase that Sumo has made since going public at the end of 2017. Red Kite Games joins CCP Newcastle and The Chinese Room, which the Sheffield firm bought in January and August 2018 respectively.

Red Kite will continue to exist under its own brand, but is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumo Digital. That company is working on a number of games, including Crackdown 3 for Microsoft and Deep Silver's Dead Island 2.

The former was slated to launch in 2016 but has seemingly been beset with issues, with the other companies working on the game dropping away leaving only Sumo. Meanwhile, Deep Silver announced in 2016 that Sumo Digital was handling development of Dead Island 2; that was the last we heard about the project. 

“Red Kite is an established brand with talented people, providing engineering and code support services to some of the biggest names in the industry," Sumo CEO Carl Cavers said.

"Simon and his team are already well known to us and we are confident that Red Kite will integrate quickly and successfully. On behalf of the whole Group, I extend a warm welcome.”

Red Kite studio director and Rockstar vet Simon Iwaniszak (pictured) added: “We are very much looking forward to being part of Sumo Group. Sumo Digital is such an exciting business, working on incredible projects. Being part of a creative, ambitious and supportive Group, which is delivering great results, will present new opportunities and new challenges to Red Kite. We have exciting plans for the studio and believe that Sumo Group will help us achieve our full potential.”

Finally, Sumo Digital MD Paul Porter, Managing Director commented: “Red Kite has a proven track record in providing valuable services to game developers and publishers, I’m delighted to welcome the team to Sumo and look forward to supporting their continued success.”