Savvy Games Group has completed the acquisition of Moonton Technology, the studio behind Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, in a deal worth $6 billion, according to GamesIndustry.biz. The seller is ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant best known as the parent company of TikTok.
Moonton is a heavyweight in the mobile gaming space. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has built a massive player base across Southeast Asia in particular, where it dominates the mobile MOBA scene and commands a dedicated esports ecosystem with millions of viewers tuning into regional tournaments.
Savvy's growing portfolio
This acquisition fits squarely into Savvy Games Group's broader strategy of building a global gaming empire backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The group has been on an aggressive acquisition and investment spree over the past few years, previously taking significant stakes in companies like ESL Gaming and FACEIT, as well as investing in major publishers including Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, and Nexon.
A $6 billion price tag is a serious statement of intent. It signals that Savvy sees mobile gaming - and the live-service, esports-adjacent model that Moonton has executed well - as a long-term growth pillar rather than a side bet.
Why ByteDance is selling
ByteDance has been under sustained regulatory and political pressure in Western markets, particularly in the United States, where TikTok faces potential bans. Offloading a $6 billion gaming asset could reflect a broader strategic refocusing for the company, though ByteDance has not publicly detailed its reasoning for the sale beyond the transaction itself.
Moonton had previously been entangled in its own legal drama with Riot Games over alleged similarities between Mobile Legends and League of Legends, a dispute that was eventually settled. Under Savvy's ownership, the studio will likely have access to significantly expanded resources to push Mobile Legends further into global markets and grow its esports infrastructure.
What this means for mobile gaming
Deals at this scale don't happen in a vacuum. A $6 billion acquisition of a mobile-first studio underscores just how seriously the industry's biggest players are taking the mobile market, which continues to outpace console and PC in terms of raw revenue globally. For fans of Mobile Legends and the broader mobile esports scene, the key question now is how Savvy's backing changes Moonton's product roadmap and competitive presence going forward.
