The deal might be finalized by the end of March, sources from Reuters claim.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
Rumors about negotiations between Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group and China's ByteDance, the current owner of Moonton studio, emerged in November 2025. At that time, the valuation of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang developers was unknown, but it was already speculated that the deal could be worth billions of dollars. Apparently, these assumptions proved to be correct.
As reported by Reuters, the parties recently reached a preliminary agreement on all the main terms of the purchase. What exactly they agreed upon besides the price is not disclosed by the agency's sources.
To recall, ByteDance itself acquired the creators of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in 2021. It paid $4 billion for them, outbidding Tencent, which was also interested in Moonton at that time. However, by 2023, ByteDance put the studio up for sale for the first time, as it was dissatisfied with its revenue and generally wanted to distance itself from gaming.
Moonton was founded in 2014. Its portfolio includes several mobile games, but Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is the most famous. According to information on the studio's website, the MOBA game has been downloaded over 1.5 billion times globally, and its monthly active audience exceeds 110 million people.