Sumo Group acquires Leamington-based Lab42 – group now totals 11 studios

Only a couple of weeks after Sumo Group CEO Carl Cavers told MCV/DEVELOP that there were plenty of opportunities for further acquisitions, this morning the group announced another UK studio is to join the Sumo family: Lab42.

The Leamington Spa-based studio is a cross-platform outfit concentrating on work-for-hire projects. Although it also holds the licence for the World Snooker Tour and single-handedly developed Snooker 19 for all major consoles and PC, published by Ripstone.

Numbering 29 people, it further cements Sumo’s presence in the area, having already opened the mobile-focused Sumo Leamington in the town early last year. 

Lab42 will retain its name and identity, as did Red Kite and The Chinese Room, and will continue to be headed by studio director Ed Blincoe (above, left). The studio has worked on seventeen projects to date, including: Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami, Football Manager Touch 18, Sonic Mania, Terratech, and Fishing Sim World.  

Sumo was keen to note that it adds new client relationships to the business, namely Ripstone, Dovetail Games, and Payload Studios, among others. The studio currently has six live projects. Which adds to the 21 projects that Sumo currently has in development, and also raises the number of studios in the group from ten to eleven.

“Lab42 is a super business and we are delighted to welcome Ed and his team to Sumo Group and the Sumo Digital family of studios. The opportunity to buy Lab42, a business that is highly respected in the industry and well known to key members of our team, was both timely and compelling. The addition of a 29 strong, established, proven and talented team will help keep our organic growth ambitions on track, through the COVID-19 pandemic, which, as previously reported, has created some recruitment challenges,” commented Carl Cavers, CEO of Sumo Group (above, right).