Still Wakes the Deep Studio The Chinese Room Announces Management Buyout, Gaining Independence from Sumo Digital

The Chinese Room, the acclaimed British indie workplace down past year's lipid rig fearfulness crippled Still Wakes the Deep, has present officially chopped ties with its erstwhile genitor institution Sumo Digital.

The studio, which besides developed indie darlings Dear Esther and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, has present completed a absorption buyout, a spokesperson for The Chinese Room has confirmed to IGN.

Today's quality follows an uncertain fewer months for the Brighton-based studio, aft Sumo's erstwhile announcement it would beryllium refocusing its efforts "exclusively connected improvement services for partners", alternatively than continuing its enactment connected archetypal franchises.

In a connection to property today, The Chinese Room said it had looked "increasingly likely" the institution would beryllium sold disconnected by Sumo Digital, apt to a backstage equity steadfast oregon different overseas purchaser — Sumo itself having been acquired by Chinese elephantine Tencent successful 2018.

Instead, The Chinese Room volition present beryllium tally arsenic an indepedent entity headed up by workplace manager Ed Daly, pursuing a woody facilitated by task superior steadfast Hiro Capital.

"This absorption buyout allows america to scratch the originative itch of continuing to enactment connected new, archetypal intelligence property, but besides to spouse with different studios connected different projects erstwhile they acceptable successful with our vision," Daly said. "This is what we are doing and we privation to transportation connected doing it, truthful we're blessed to transportation connected successful this vein."

Following the motorboat of Still Wakes the Deep and past month's DLC battalion Siren's Rest, The Chinese Room present has 2 caller IPs successful the works, it was revealed today.

Next to launch, however, volition beryllium the long-gestating Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, acceptable to beryllium published by Paradox Interactive this coming October.

"The Chinese Room is simply a immense British occurrence communicative that has rightly been recognised arsenic a unsocial originative unit susceptible of competing connected the satellite stage," said Spike Laurie, a spouse astatine Hiro Capital. "From hiring British radical to making games acceptable successful the UK, they've been 1 of our foremost originative studios and present they are erstwhile again successful complaint of their ain destiny portion remaining British.

"We are astatine hazard of overlooking these originative gems and letting them beryllium sold to overseas corporations," Laurie continued. "That is simply a travesty for the $5.5 cardinal British gaming manufacture which has a world-renowned reputation. We request to nurture this endowment and enactment it done hard times, due to the fact that it is 1 of our starring originative exports."

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social