Voodoo pivots to longer lasting games

This shift means Voodoo stopped acting like a hit factory and started acting more like a portfolio operator built around longer lasting games. In 2021, the business was still almost entirely hyper-casual, where money came mostly from showing ads in very simple games that could burn out in weeks. By 2024, most revenue was coming from casual and hybrid-casual titles with deeper progression, live events, and in-app purchases, which makes revenue steadier and margins stronger.1 2 3 4

• The old model was speed and volume. Voodoo could test 1 to 2 new games a week at roughly $5K each, then buy installs hard for the few that worked. That machine depended on cheap targeted ads, so Apple privacy changes in 2021 and rising acquisition costs hit hyper-casual economics directly.1 3 5
• The replacement model is fewer games with more layers. Voodoo cut its outside studio network from about 800 to about 100, then focused on titles that stay alive for years through updates, events, and purchases. Games older than two years generated 80% of 2024 revenue, a very different profile from the short shelf life hyper-casual era.1 4
• This also explains why Voodoo could move into consumer apps like BeReal. Once the company was no longer tied almost entirely to disposable ad driven games, it could use the same user acquisition and ad monetization infrastructure across a broader app portfolio, including the June 11, 2024 acquisition of BeReal for €500M.1 2 6

From here, Voodoo is likely to look less like a pure mobile game publisher and more like a mobile consumer holding company. The winners inside its portfolio should be products that combine cheap distribution, high retention, and multiple ways to monetize, whether through ads, purchases, or app level commerce and subscriptions.1 2 6