ByteDance Reportedly in Talks to Sell MLBB Dev Moonton to Savvy Games Group

TikTok parent company ByteDance is reportedly in negotiations to sell Shanghai Moonton Technology Co., the developer behind Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, to Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, according to Bloomberg. While talks are ongoing, insiders have stressed that the deal may not be finalized.

ByteDance may offload Moonton, maker of MLBB, as Savvy Games Group pursues new acquisitions. | Image via Gaming Amigos

Background on the Deal

ByteDance acquired Moonton in 2021 for around $4 billion, beating out Tencent in what was then a major move into the gaming sector. Since then, however, ByteDance has struggled to carve out a significant share of the market, eventually winding down its Nuverse gaming division and cutting jobs. Selling Moonton would mark another step in its retreat from gaming, even though Mobile Legends remains hugely popular in Southeast Asia.

Savvy Games Group, founded in 2021 and owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has been aggressively investing in gaming and esports. The PIF already holds stakes in companies like Nintendo, Capcom, Activision Blizzard, Nexon, Take-Two, and Koei Tecmo. More recently, it partnered with Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners to propose a massive $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts.

Despite its ambitious goals, reports suggest the PIF may be short on liquid capital, with much of its nearly $1 trillion in assets tied up in long-term projects such as Neom and luxury resorts.

ByteDance, meanwhile, faces pressure to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations by January 2026 under a national security law signed by President Donald Trump. The company is preparing to sell about 80% of TikTok’s U.S. assets to a mix of American and international investors. They had already given up their publishing rights for games like Mobile Legends and Marvel Snap in the US.