TikTok owner ByteDance is in “advanced talks” to sell its wholly owned game development studio MOOTON Games, for approximately $6 – $7 billion USD to Savvy Games Group, according to a Reuters report. This is according to several sources, who also claim the deal could be finalized sometime in this quarter.
MOONTON is best known for its popular mobile MOBA, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and its related esports ecosystem.
Both companies declined to comment to Reuters.
ByteDance said in 2023 that it would restructure its gaming business following an internal review. The company has said in the past that it intended to offload its games division, but those plans never came to fruition.
Savvy Games Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Savvy is the parent company of SNK Corporation, ESL FACEIT Group (which is home to ESL, FACEIT, DreamHack, and what remains of Esports Engine), Monopoly Go developer Scopely, and soon Electronic Arts. The company also controls the PIF’s portfolio of investments in the gaming sector which includes minor investments in Ubisoft, Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, and more.
Projects backed by the Saudi government are often accused of being used for “sports washing,” or as a cover for the government to gloss over its record on human rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, its mistreatment (and executions of) journalists, military actions in Yemen, and more. These and other criticisms have been highlighted by international watchdog groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.