Tencent Holdings Ltd, the world’s one of the largest mobile gaming companies, has simply added one another gaming company to its increasing gaming empire, this time, to up its business in casual titles.
The Chinese gaming giant has reportedly become a minority shareholder in Voodoo SAS, the French-based firm that developed a slew of standard casual games, in its business that is worth USD 1.4 billion. The company didn’t disclose the amount it invested in the Voodoo.
Established around seven years ago, Voodoo is co-founded by Laurent Ritter and Alexandre Yazdi. The company’s CEO Mr. Yazdi will remain the most vital shareholder, while the administration will retain the management of the firm.
In recent years, Voodoo has become one of the world’s leading publishers of ‘hyper-casual games’, titles can be developed quickly. The company claims 3.7 billion downloads with its several titles such as Helix Jump. The company’s mini-games are a perfect match for Tencent’s WeChat messenger, which itself runs a platform for simple games.
The good thing about taking minority stake in Voodoo, as games analysts pointed out, is that its ad-driven business mannequin means the company has fewer regulatory hoops to leap in the mainland China in comparison with game developers monetizing by way of in-app purchases, which need a regulatory license.
For Voodoo, the move is a good gateway to the largest gaming market in Asia. Mr. Yazdi stated in an announcement that the company is thrilled to welcome Tencent and is looking forward to developing new products together for the Asian market, and publishing titles created by many talented game studios in the region.
Since May, the French gaming company has been searching for a probable stakeholder in a deal that could worth the firm at over USD 1.6 billion. Goldman Sachs acquired minority stakes in Voodoo in 2018 for USD 200 million.
Source Credit - https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/17/tencent-takes-minority-stake-in-french-casual-games-maker-voodoo/