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Shanghai-based Moonton, which has developed the popular mobile
game “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang”, was acquired by ByteDance in
2021. At the time, it was seen as ByteDance’s biggest commitment
to become a major player in the $187 billion global video games
market.
Companies that ByteDance has met to discuss the sale of the
company include at least one Saudi-based firm, two people
familiar with the matter said.
One of the two people said that the talks were still at an early
stage and a deal was not guaranteed. The person added that the
plan comes as ByteDance is choosing to focus resources on its
core business.
ByteDance declined to comment.
ByteDance's foray into video games has proven to be rocky so
far. Founded in 2014, Moonton found success with multiplayer
online battle arena game "Mobile Legends". But the studio has
yet to release another similar hit game.
Moonton's unremarkable performance since its acquisition is one
of the reasons behind ByteDance’s desire to sell, people told
Reuters.
ByteDance has met with other setbacks in its gaming expansion.
Last year, ByteDance disbanded its Shanghai-based game
development unit 101 Studio. This month, ByteDance said it would
overhaul its virtual reality (VR) unit Pico to focus on
hardware, cutting software and games-related jobs.
ByteDance’ acquisition of Moonton was also followed by a sudden
months-long crackdown by the Chinese government on the video
games sector, which caused the sector to shrink for the first
time last year.
Moonton says on its website that it has more than 1,600
employees worldwide and apart from mainland China also operates
in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and
Kim Coghill)
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