Sumo Digital has had a very busy few recent years. Since 2020, Sumo Digital has self-published its own game, Spyder, worked with Sony to release Sackboy: A Big Adventure for the launch of the PS5, partnered with Xbox to bring Forza Horizon 4 to Steam, and is currently sustaining the post-launch of multiplayer game Hood: Outlaws & Legends. It doesn't look like Sumo Digital is slowing down anytime soon, either. A job listing hints that a follow-up to one of Sumo's "AAA IP" is currently in the works.
The job listing in question is for an associate art director at Sumo Digital's Sumo Sheffield location. There's nothing complicated about the job listing. It states straight away that the role will be responsible for helping to "develop and grow the universe of an existing AAA IP." Further details include being an "advocate and spokesperson for the franchise," but no specifics are otherwise provided regarding the IP itself.
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What's probably the biggest question left unanswered is whether the IP in question is something Sumo Digital owns or if it's an IP from one of Sumo Digital's partners. After all, Sumo Digital has a long history of working with big IP from its partners. That includes LittleBigPlanet from Sony, Sonic from Sega, Hitman from IO Interactive, and others. In fact, any of Sumo Digital's own IP, which includes Snake Pass, Spyder, and Hood: Outlaws & Legends, could fit that description if scaled up
In terms of speculation, there are only a handful of possible recent AAA game releases that would make sense for Sumo Digital to be making a sequel or follow-up to. Those games include 2019's Crackdown 3, as Xbox is aggressively partnering with third-part studios for exclusive games, Team Sonic Racing or another Sonic racing game, which Sega will very likely fund endlessly, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure, given Sumo Digital's continued support of the LittleBigPlanet franchise.
There is another possibility that may already have been confirmed, however. Sumo Digital could be working in an entirely different AAA IP for the very first time. A profile for Sumo Digital narrative director Saga Longthorne published in May mentioned she is working on a AAA release in one of the "world's best known and best-loved fantasy franchises." The description conjures names like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones. No announcement has been made since.
Sumo Digital has five different studios and over 750 employees. It's more than capable of handling projects of any size, for any IP. While it has historically worked with partners like Sony, Sega, Xbox, and others, it has also spent recent years growing its self-published portfolio. Also, its recent acquisition by Tencent may provide funding for larger self-published projects. Regardless of what project might be next, Sumo Digital fans should be very excited for the future.