Kelly Sumner

Kelly Sumner (born 29 April 1961), is a Director of ArBa Developments,[1] a software development company based in Bangalore, India, Chairman of Reactional Music, and the chairman of Sonic Data Limited.[2]

The entire staff of Commodore UK at a kick off event, 1989.
Kelly Sumner

Kelly has run two NASDAQ listed companies. He has 40 years experience in hardware and software, starting as a trainee electronics engineer at Commodore in 1979. He progressed up the corporate ladder becoming Managing Director of Commodore in the UK.[3]

From hardware he moved into entertainment software, joining US based Nintendo and Sega publisher Gametek as European MD before becoming CEO. Kelly merged Gametek into the fledgling publisher Take Two shortly thereafter.[4] 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.[5][6]

After Take Two, Kelly became CEO of RedOctane fronting the commercial development of Guitar Hero, the video game that went on to become a $1 Billion franchise.[7] He sold RedOctane to Activision in 2006 for $160m.[8]

More recently Kelly has been investing in early stage tech companies. During this period he has been chairman of Intent Media, which was sold to Newbay Capital;[9] and Mediatonic (Fall Guys) which was sold to Synova Capital,[10] and a Board Director of the cloud CRM company, TPoint, which was sold to New York based private equity company Aquiline Capital Partners.[11]

He is currently a Director of ArBa Developments, Chairman of Reactional Music, and chairman of the intelligent content tech start-up, Sonic Data Limited.

Kelly is also a former vice president of Chelsea Football Club, a keen cyclist, skier and football fan. He currently resides in Weybridge, Surrey with his wife, Kirsteen.

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

Quotes

I remember having a phone meeting and they said:

‘We’ve got this idea for a guitar product.’ And my heart sank. I had been involved with guitar products in the past and they were all dead wood.

- Kelly Sumner, Former Red Octane CEO[12]

References
  1. "ArBa - High Quality Software Development & Testing". ArBa. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  2. "Sonic Data". Sonic Data. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  3. Gareth Knight. "Commodore Photo Album". bambi-amiga.co.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  4. "GameTek Assets Sold to Take 2". GameSpot. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  5. "RedOctane appoints Kelly Sumner as new CEO". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  6. "https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ttwo". marketwatch.com. Retrieved 30 June 2020. External link in |title= (help)
  7. "Planet Digital Partners Brings Gaming Industry Heavyweights Together". Bitsonline. 26 January 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  8. "Activision Set to Acquire Video Game Publisher RedOctane and Its Highly Popular Guitar Hero Franchise". Activision Blizzard, Inc. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  9. "NewBay Media acquires Intent Media". MCV/DEVELOP. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  10. "SYNOVA INVESTS IN MEDIATONIC | Synova Capital". Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  11. "Woven accelerates its disruptive journey with the acquisition of tPoint Solutions - Directors' Club Newswire". Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  12. "No one wanted to back it, no one wanted to stock it - the remarkable story of Guitar Hero". 12 March 2015.
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