LO1 - Buisness Report

Sumo Digital Ltd.

Sumo Digital is a successful and ever growing company based in Sheffield. It specialises in creating popular on demand games. It is an independent company that produces games for the mass audience. Some successful games they have produced are Little Big Planet 3 and Disney Infinity. They have a work force of 260 people spread across the Head Office in Sheffield. [1]

The Hierarchy of Sumo Digital

Carl Cavers is the CEO, Co-Founder, Development Director and the Managing Director. He also owns Sumo Digital, Double Helix Games and Pipe Works [1], so he has the most authority and is at the top of the hierarchy. All the important decisions are made by him and his team, as well as any mistakes happening further down would have to be sorted by them. Paul Porter is also a CEO and Co-Founder, he is also the studio head. His career in the games industry started in 1988, writing Predator 2 on the C64 [1]. Darren Millers is a Co-Founder, Executive Art Director and Director of Sumo India [1]. In a hierarchy there are always a group of people that have similar authority, like all the directors; Ash Bennet being the Technical Director, Sean Millard being the Creative Director and Gary Edwards, Steven Zalud and Gary Moore all being Development Directors [1]. All of these jobs entail them to supervise and work with a team of experts in their chosen field. There are also many different jobs for designers, programmers, artists and game testers.

Platform Technology and Development Software

At Sumo Digital they use specific engines for each games, to make each game diverse and varied, e.g. Little Big Planet 3 using the Unreal 4 Engine and Forza Horizon using the Forza 4 Engine. As for the development software they use 3DS Max, Maya and Soft Image XSI. They also used Photoshop which is used to create the textures and graphics of the games, specifically the backgrounds. At Sumo Digital their art department is very talented and skilled and acquainted with the high end software's to produce an aesthetically appealing finish. A development software used by students creating games in preparation for creating games is PhyreEngine™ [4] They also use their Sumo Engine for their games, which is used for most games they produce.

Game Types

At Sumo Digital they produce a wide variety of game types to appeal to the mass audience as well as the niche, they have produced some very successful games in their chosen genre [1]. Sumo Digital are typically class themselves as 'Racing Studio.'

• Arcade Action
• Driving
• Arcade Sports
• Platformers
• Cross Platform Development
• New Technology
• Original Products [1]
  
  
  Games on Multiple Platforms
  
  

Sumo Digital are very lucky in the sense that they are one of the only companies in in Europe to be allowed to produce games with all the different platforms, this means they are allowed to diversify their audience and widen their reach and also make a larger profit and build their success. To sum up Sumo Digital have worked with a w ide variety of platforms including; Arcade, Dream cast, Microsoft Windows, Gameboy Advance, N-gage, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita and iOS.

• Virtua Tennis is available on Arcade, Dream Cast, Microsoft Windows, Gameboy Advance and N-Gage
• Dead Space Ignition – PlayStation and Xbox  
• F1 2011 – Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita and iOS
• Disney Infinity – Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Wii U
• Sonic & All - Stars Racing: - PlayStation 3, PS Vita, X Box 360, PC CD-Rom, PC Downloadable, Wii U, 3DS, iOS and Android [2]

Regulatory Bodies

Sumo Digitals main regulatory body is ESRB or the entertainment rating board which is used for most products [3] . Another Regulatory body is Pegi, even though Pegi is optional it allows which companies will stock and sell your game. Because of the restrictions put into place by Pegi, all of Sumo Digitals games are age restricted unless stated available for everyone and they allow for correct consumption of the game by the correct audience [2]. An example of Pegi’s age rating system would be Little Big Planet 3 being rated E for everyone, as there are no drugs or violence or anything that would scar children.

Sumo Digital (2015) About us - http://www.sumo-digital.com/ [1]

- Hierarchy
Monday 28th September 2015

Sumo Digital (2015) Our Games - http://www.sumo-digital.com/ [2]

- Game Types

- Games on Multiple Platforms

-Regulatory Bodies

Monday 28th September 2015

Sumo Digital (2015) Email -  Info@Sumo-Digital.com [3]

- Regulatory Bodies

Sumo Digital (2015) [4]
- http://www.sumo-digital.com/sumo-digital-opens-worlds-largest-playstation-education-facility-at-sheffield-hallam-university/