Tencent steps up move into hyper-casual games with some Voodoo in its business

Internet giant Tencent Holdings aims to stamp its mark in the fast-growing market segment of hyper-casual games, according to analysts, following its recent investment in French developer Voodoo.

Tencent, which has recently been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, earlier this week bought a minority stake for an undisclosed amount in Voodoo, a leading proponent of hyper-casual games. These are mostly free, simple-to-play mobile games made cheaply and quickly, which rely on advertising for revenue, and appeal to the broadest category of players on both Android and Apple iOS devices.

Analysts expect that deal to directly benefit Tencent’s multipurpose messaging and social media platform, WeChat, which already offers easy-to-play mini games launched straight from the app.

“Voodoo’s games are a great fit for WeChat mini games,” said Serkan Toto, chief executive of game industry consultancy Kantan Games. He said these games would also enable Tencent, which runs the world’s largest video games business by revenue, to stave off the challenge from TikTok owner ByteDance, which has developed its own portfolio of hyper-casual games.