Kelly Sumner

Kelly Sumner began work in the industry as a trainee electronics engineer at Commodore in 1979. He progressed up the corporate ladder becoming managing director of Commodore in the UK.{{Cite web|last=Gareth Knight|title=Commodore Photo Album|url=http://www.bambi-amiga.co.uk/amigahistory/commphoto.html|access-date=2020-06-30|website=bambi-amiga.co.uk}}

From hardware he moved into entertainment software, joining US based Nintendo and Sega publisher Gametek as European MD before becoming CEO. Sumner merged Gametek into the fledgling publisher Take Two shortly thereafter.{{Cite web|title=GameTek Assets Sold to Take 2|url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gametek-assets-sold-to-take-2/1100-2467081/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=GameSpot|language=en-US}} As CEO he took the company to annual sales of $1 billion, investing in the creation of amongst others, Rockstar Games, launching products such as Grand Theft Auto and delivering a four-fold increase in the share price.{{Cite web|title=RedOctane appoints Kelly Sumner as new CEO|url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/redoctane-appoints-kelly-sumner-as-new-ceo|access-date=2020-06-30|website=GamesIndustry.biz|date=17 February 2006 |language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ttwo|access-date=2020-06-30|website=marketwatch.com|title=TTWO Stock Price | Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. Stock Quote (U.S.: Nasdaq) }}

After Take Two, Sumner became CEO of RedOctane fronting the commercial development of Guitar Hero, the video game that went on to become a $1 billion franchise.{{Cite web|date=2019-01-26|title=Planet Digital Partners Brings Gaming Industry Heavyweights Together|url=https://bitsonline.com/sumner-planet-digital-partners/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=Bitsonline|language=en-US}} He sold RedOctane to Activision in 2006 for $160 million.{{Cite web|url=https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-set-acquire-video-game-publisher-redoctane-and-its|title=Activision Set to Acquire Video Game Publisher RedOctane and Its Highly Popular Guitar Hero Franchise|website=Activision Blizzard, Inc.|language=en|access-date=2019-06-19}}

More recently Sumner has been investing in early stage tech companies. During this period he has been chairman of Intent Media, which was sold to Newbay Capital;{{Cite magazine|date=2012-12-05|title=NewBay Media acquires Intent Media|url=https://www.mcvuk.com/business-news/media-pr/newbay-media-acquires-intent-media/|access-date=2020-06-30|magazine=MCV/DEVELOP|language=en-GB}} and Mediatonic (Fall Guys) which was sold to Synova Capital,{{Cite web|url=http://www.synova-capital.com/press-releases/synova-invests-in-mediatonic/|title=SYNOVA INVESTS IN MEDIATONIC {{!}} Synova Capital|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-19}} and a board director of the cloud CRM company, TPoint, which was sold to New York-based private equity company Aquiline Capital Partners.{{Cite web|title=Woven accelerates its disruptive journey with the acquisition of tPoint Solutions - Directors' Club Newswire|date=12 November 2019 |url=https://directorsclub.news/2019/11/12/woven-accelerates-its-disruptive-journey-with-the-acquisition-of-tpoint-solutions/|access-date=2020-06-30|language=en-US}}

He is currently a director of ArBa Developments, and chairman and investor at Reactional Music.

Reactional is a rules-based music engine and delivery platform that connects the music and games industries commercially and creatively, allowing any music to be brought into a game and the entire game’s visuals, music and sound to react live to that music. Something that has not been possible before.

Reactional’s platform opens up a new era of music personalisation, in-game purchase and a faster and more efficient method to create and prototype music for games developers, increasing music choice and ease of use for everyone.

Sumner is also a former vice president of Chelsea Football Club. He resides in Weybridge, Surrey with his wife, Kirsteen.

Appeared as a contestant on the videogame show GamesMaster (Series 2 Episode 12). Winning the Golden Joystick by completing his challenge on The Humans on the Amiga.

{{Reflist}}

• http://ir.take2games.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=86428&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=358952&highlight= 22 November 2002
• Take-Two Veteran Leads RedOctane [https://archive.today/20130103105641/http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/693/693249p1.html] 3 March 2006
• https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/could-this-technology-built-by-a-grammy-winning-producer-blow-up-musics-black-box-once-and-for-all/ 13 July 2021
• https://www.recordoftheday.com/on-the-move/news-press/sonickey-enables-all-music-in-the-world-to-be-identifiable-referenceable-and-trackable-with-100-accuracy 14 July 2021
• https://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/ones-to-watch-2021/sonicdata-limited 14 September 2021
• https://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/site-content/ones-to-watch-2021-celebrates-growth-and-export-minded-createch-businesses 9 September 2021
• https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/23360/pdf/ 20 January 2021
• https://www.aim.org.uk/#/news/aim-partners-with-sonicdata-to-offer-members-free-digital-watermark-monitoring-technology 2 September 2021
• https://www.billboard.com/pro/ll-cool-j-hip-hop-platform-15m-anuel-aa-royalty-income-acquired/ 20 April 2023
• https://namepr.notion.site/Reactional-Music-Press-Clips-12-April-2023-1231a8abe70a49d081e3bb28099d06ad Press Releases - Reactional Music
• https://theretrohour.com/what-really-killed-commodore-uk-md-kelly-sumner-tells-all-the-retro-hour-ep468/ The Retro Hour Podcast Episode 468
• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bMaS2j99DN7Oczrviv06KMTq0RBCuNhA/view The Retro Hour Podcast Episode - with video

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Category:1961 births

Category:Living people

Category:British businesspeople