Sumo Group to Cut Staff by 15%
Sumo Group, owners of Sumo Digital, Secret Mode, and The Chinese Room – plans to lay off hundreds of staff. The group plans a reduction of 15% of their workforce “to better navigate the upcoming challenges expected in the coming months”.
On Monday, Sumo Digital chirpily celebrated the “busy weekend” following Secret Mode’s showing of Critter Café, Deathsprint 66, and The Chinese Room’s Still Wakes the Deep during Summer Games Fes. On the following day, Sumo Group released another statement announcing layoffs. The statement said that they would “reshape operations” to “ensure the business’s security”.
Considering the latest headcount of 1,790 on the company’s website, up to 270 people may be affected by the layoffs across the group’s 19 offices in the UK, Canada, Poland, Czech and India.
Notably, the job cuts took everyone by surprise. The Sumo Group is a leading developer of games such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Crackdown 3. Games of reputable standings among the gaming community.
Sumo Group to Cut Staff by 15%
In addition, Sumo is known as a co-developer of games such as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Hogwarts Legacy, and Forza Horizon 5. These are big league games. It takes money to develop and run them. But they also earn well.
Furthermore, staff reduction in the summer is usually not recommended. This is where most games create huge discounts to increase sales. From Warhammer Humble Bundles to the Bethesda Summer Sales, companies push the window to create releases and updates for November, December, and January.
In 2021, the group was acquired by Chinese megacorp Tencent, which acquired Auroch Digital, which developed Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, and Midoki, a mobile studio.
“This is an incredibly challenging process to go through for everyone at Sumo and our focus is now on supporting our people and working with our partners on their games as we move forward to ensure we emerge from this difficult time, ready for the future,” Sumo wrote.