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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteGoldman Sachs invested in the French mobile game company Voodoo in 2018, and the reported size of that investment was an estimated $200 million. Voodoo’s chief executive, Alexandre Yazdi, did not confirm an exact figure. The amount comes from GamesBeat’s reporting at the time, so it should be read as an estimate, not a disclosed number.
What was reported in 2018
GamesBeat reporter Dean Takahashi published the story on May 29, 2018, under the headline “Voodoo raises estimated $200 million from Goldman Sachs for mobile games.” The article states that Yazdi declined to say exactly how much the company had raised. The page was later updated on June 18, 2025, but the reported financing itself dates to 2018. Read the GamesBeat report.
Why the figure is an estimate
Two things are true at once. The company did not confirm the sum, and the $200 million number is the outlet’s estimate. Anyone quoting it should keep the word “estimated” attached. Treating it as a confirmed transaction value would overstate what the public record shows.
What the money was meant to do
According to the same reporting, the investment was intended to support four things:
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- developing a publishing hub for mobile-game developers
- continuing the company’s growth
- hiring in Europe and the United States
- adding technology engineers
These were stated plans in 2018. The reporting does not show how the money was actually spent, and this article does not confirm that any of the plans were completed.
How the investor and CEO described the deal
GamesBeat attributes the following statement to Alexandre Flavier, identified in the report as an investor at Goldman Sachs:
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“We have been impressed by the vision, execution capabilities and innovation velocity of this management team. We are enthusiastic about partnering with Voodoo, under the leadership of Alexandre Yazdi, in this critical acceleration phase of a French tech champion.”
The same report quotes Yazdi on the company’s approach: “There is no secret, just a mindset, and a way of working.” Both quotations are reproduced as GamesBeat printed them. Neither is a contract term, and neither says how large Goldman Sachs’ stake was.
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What the 2018 report does not establish
The reporting supports a narrow set of facts: a financing was reported, its amount was estimated at $200 million, the CEO did not give an exact figure, and the stated purposes were growth, hiring and a publishing hub. It does not establish the size of Goldman Sachs’ ownership, the terms of the investment, or whether the relationship continues today. Any claim about current ownership or an ongoing partnership would need a source from after 2018 that says so directly.
A separate financing: the 2025 debt refinancing
Voodoo later announced a different transaction. In April 2025, the company said it had obtained more than €175 million from a consortium to refinance existing debt. This was reported in its May 2025 results release. It is a debt refinancing of existing obligations, not a new equity investment, and it should not be described as a second Goldman Sachs deal. The sources do not name the members of the consortium.
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The two events are easy to confuse because both involve large sums and both appear in Voodoo’s public history. The table below separates them.
| Item | 2018 Goldman Sachs financing | April 2025 refinancing |
|---|---|---|
| Date reported | May 29, 2018 (GamesBeat) | April 2025, reported in May 2025 (Voodoo) |
| Amount | Estimated at $200 million; CEO did not disclose the exact total | More than €175 million, as stated by Voodoo |
| Stated purpose | Growth, hiring in Europe and the US, technology engineers, publishing hub | Refinance existing debt |
| Type | Investment; Goldman Sachs described as an investor | Debt refinancing from a consortium |
| Named counterparty | Goldman Sachs | Consortium; members not named in the sources |
| Source certainty | Journalist estimate; amount not confirmed by the company in the report | Company-described |
Voodoo’s business since 2018
Voodoo says it was founded in 2013 and that its publishing model developed during 2016 to 2018 through frequent launches, prototyping, testing and data collection. The company identifies Paper.io as its first major hit. It describes 2021 to 2023 as a shift from hypercasual games toward hybrid-casual games and apps, and describes 2024 onward as a broader effort to develop games and apps. Voodoo’s company page is the primary source for this history.
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The 2024 results
In its May 20, 2025 release, Voodoo reported the following for 2024. All figures are the company’s own:
| Metric (2024) | Figure reported by Voodoo |
|---|---|
| Revenue | €623 million |
| EBITDA | €135 million |
| Downloads during the year | 950 million |
| Share of revenue from games live for more than two years | Nearly 80% |
| Share of revenue from hypercasual games | 22%, compared with 100% in 2021 |
| Partner studios | More than 150 |
| Monthly active users | 150 million |
The hypercasual share is the clearest signal of the shift. Voodoo’s own release places it at 100% of revenue in 2021 and 22% in 2024. Source: Voodoo’s 2024 results announcement.
Yazdi described the year in the company’s release: “2024 was a pivotal year for Voodoo. But our ambition goes far beyond: we aim to redefine the future of digital entertainment by relentlessly innovating to create tomorrow’s iconic products.”
How to read financing and company figures like these
When you see a number attached to a game company, check four things before repeating it:
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- Who reported it. A journalist’s estimate, a company announcement and an audited filing carry different weight.
- What year it describes. The $200 million figure is from 2018. Voodoo’s revenue and EBITDA figures are for 2024.
- What the money was for. An equity investment, a debt refinancing and a stated spending plan are different things.
- Whether it was confirmed. “Estimated” and “reported” are not the same as “disclosed.”
Applied to this story, the 2018 Goldman Sachs investment is an estimated figure from one journalist’s report, while the 2024 results and the 2025 refinancing are company statements. Keeping these categories separate is the simplest way to avoid confusing them.
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