Saudi Fund Moves to Buy Moonton Games for $6 Billion

Savvy Games, a gaming investment vehicle owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has entered an agreement with TikTok parent company ByteDance to buy Moonton Games for $6 billion. That’s only a billion or so shy of what Microsoft bought Bethesda for back in 2021.

“This acquisition directly supports Savvy’s purpose to enable prosperity and connection through play for generations to come, and our mission to drive long-term growth and innovation in games and esports,” Savvy CEO Brian Ward said in a press release. Once completed, he added, it will strengthen Savvy’s leadership in mobile games, deepen its talent pool, expand its global footprint, and enhance its reach across esports.

Moonton is a Shanghai-based subsidiary of ByteDance that’s pursued free-to-play mobile hits. Those include the 2016 MOBA Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which has been downloaded over a billion times. More recently the company shipped co-op vertical shooter Acecraft, which mixes Cuphead’s animation style with famous licensed cartoon characters.

Saudi Arabia, Shanghai

savvy games, saudi arabia, bytedance, moonton games, mobile legends, acecraft, mobile games, esports, 6 billion, sovereign fund