Tencent-Backed Voodoo Betting on Mobile Blockchain Video Games

(Bloomberg) -- Tencent-backed mobile video game maker and publisher Voodoo is taking its first steps to offering non-fungible tokens with plans to open a blockchain division next year, according to Alexandre Yazdi, co-founder and chief executive officer.

Voodoo is set to invest more than $200 million to develop the technology, the company said in a statement Thursday. Known for its easy-to-play offerings like “Paper.io” and “Helix Jump,” Voodoo will focus on approaches that allow players to win digital assets as they get better at a game. 

“Blockchain is not going to kill other types of games, but it is going to be huge,” Yazdi said in an interview. “As an automated way to handle flows, storing and protection of data, it is going to improve a lot of industries.”

Voodoo, based near Paris, has 550 employees and is valued at 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion) after GBL bought a 16% stake in the company in July. 

Voodoo is not the only French-based game developer betting on blockchain. Startup Sorare raised $680 million this September from a group led by SoftBank to develop its online soccer game where players collect digital player cards in the form of NFTs. Ubisoft is testing NFTs to let players buy and sell limited editions of virtual items to use in the game “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint.”

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