China-based internet technology company ByteDance is in advanced talks to sell Shanghai-based mobile game developer Moonton Technology to Saudi Arabia-based Savvy Games Group for $6B–7B, according to Reuters. A deal could be signed by the end of Q1’26, with broad commercial terms already in place.
ByteDance acquired Moonton in 2021 for approximately $4B via its gaming subsidiary Nuverse, outbidding Tencent (SEHK: 700). At the lower end of the reported valuation range, the transaction would represent an approximately $2B return on ByteDance’s original investment. For a high-growth tech conglomerate, a $1.5–1.7B net return over a five-year holding period would translate into a relatively modest IRR, suggesting that ByteDance may not have scaled Moonton’s monetization sufficiently to justify its position within the portfolio.
Founded in 2014, Moonton is best known for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, one of the world’s most popular mobile MOBAs. The title has surpassed 1.5 billion installs and maintains over 110 million MAUs, ranking among the top 10 most-played games in 80+ countries. The M7 World Championship in Jan’26 recorded a peak viewership of 5.6 million.
The transaction would mark ByteDance’s major retreat from online gaming, following a 2023 internal review that led to the restructuring of its gaming operations. The deal had already been circulating as a rumor since Nov’25, and we covered it at that time in one of our previous digests.
Savvy Games Group, wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), continues its global gaming acquisition push. The company acquired US-based mobile publisher Scopely for $4.9B in Jul’23, and Scopely subsequently acquired Niantic‘s games division, including Pokémon GO, for $3.5B in May’25. Separately, a PIF-led consortium including Silver Lake and Affinity Partners agreed to take Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) private for $55B in Sep’25, with the transaction pending regulatory approval and an expected close in Q2’26. At $6B+, the Moonton deal would rank among the top 10 largest gaming acquisitions in history.
