AN award-winning independent game development studio based in Brighton has been sold for £2.2 millio.

Sumo Group has bought The Chinese Room from founders Dan Pinchbeck and Jessica Curry.

The Chinese Room is best known for creating experimental first-person games such as Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and, most recently, So Let Us Melt.

The business was founded in 2010.

Dear Esther received several Independent Games Festival nominations and the award for Excellence in Visual Art in 2012.

Dan Pinchbeck has joined Sumo Group as creative director of The Chinese Room.

Jessica Curry has chosen to leave the business to continue her career as a composer.

The Chinese Room is in a creative hot spot, giving Sumo Group access to a sizeable new pool of UK development talent.

Sumo Group intends to invest in this studio.

Carl Cavers, chief executive of Sumo Group, said: “I am really pleased with the acquisition of The Chinese Room and that Dan has chosen to join Sumo Digital.

“We believe his renowned and proven creative abilities will add real value to the business.

“It has an outstanding reputation and its acquisition will enhance and extend Sumo Digital’s capabilities.”