The owner of TikTok plans to sell the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang developer company for $6 billion and fully exit the gaming industry.

Reuters report on the sale of ByteDance's gaming unit

* Who is selling and what?

The owner of TikTok – Chinese company ByteDance announced that it intends to sell its gaming studio *Shanghai Moonton Technology*.

* Buyer and terms of the deal

The prospective buyer is the investment group *Savvy Games Group*, managed by Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF). According to the agency, negotiations have already reached a preliminary agreement. The contract is expected to be signed by the end of the current quarter, i.e., within the next one and a half months. The estimated value of the deal is $6–7 billion.

* History of Moonton and its key metrics

- ByteDance acquired Moonton in 2021 through Nuverse (publisher of *Marvel Snap*) for about $4 billion.
- The studio employs more than 2,000 people.
- Its most famous product is the mobile strategy game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, with over 1.5 billion registered users and more than 110 million active players monthly. The game ranks in the top‑10 most popular games in more than 80 countries.

* Context for ByteDance

- At the end of 2023 the company effectively shut down Nuverse, ceasing development of new projects and dropping support for older ones.
- Selling Moonton will complete ByteDance’s exit from the gaming industry.

* Strategy of Savvy Games Group

The group is actively expanding its mobile game portfolio: in 2023 it acquired *Scopely* (Monopoly Go) for $4.9 billion and Niantic’s business (Pokemon Go) for $3.5 billion. Moonton will now become another major acquisition.

Thus, ByteDance is preparing to fully withdraw from games, while Savvy Games Group will continue expanding its presence in the mobile gaming segment.