Tencent subsidiary Sumo Group has announced the acquisition of British developer Midoki for an undisclosed sum, reports Game Developer.

Established in 2011, Midoki has worked on a variety of titles, most notably RPG Knighthood which has been downloaded more than five million times. Additionally, the developer collaborated with Sega Hardlight on Crazy Taxi City Rush, a mobile spin off of the hit game. Sumo has stated that the deal will strengthen its free to play and live service credentials, as well as its strength on mobile platforms as a whole.

"I'm delighted to welcome the Midoki team to the Group as we look to expand our presence in live service and mobile gaming,” said Sumo Group CEO Carl Cavers. “With over a decade of experience in this space, Midoki will strengthen our current service offering in game development as we continue to create great games for our partners and exciting experiences for players.

"The values and culture of Midoki are a natural fit to Sumo and we’re excited to add a further 29 talented game creators to the business and share in the next step of their journey."

A champion in the ring

Following the acquisition, Midoki will continue to operate as an independent studio, but will create games under the Sumo Banner.

The acquisition marks the latest in a series of acquisitions by Sumo Group, which has significantly grown its profile in recent years. Since 2020 alone the company has acquired co-development specialist Pipeworks, independent studio PixelAnt Games, and Bristol-based developer Auroch Digital. The company’s success led to its acquisition by Tencent for $1.3 billion in 2022, and it currently operates five development studios in the UK, as well as two in India.

The acquisition comes just two years after Phoenix Games acquired a minority stake in Midoki in 2021, with the publishing rights to Knighthood a part of the deal.