Moonton

History

2021: ByteDance bought Moonton for $4 billion

At the end of March 2021 the Chinese , the technology company and owner TikTok ByteDance acquired the Moonton gaming studio for $4 billion. According to the data, the Reuters acquisition was made through the Nuverse video game division of ByteDance.

Nuverse was founded in 2019 and published games such as Strike Royale, Eden no Tobira, Arena of Evolution: Red Tides and others. In early 2021, the ByteDance gaming division launched an official website. In turn, Moonton is widely known throughout the world as the publisher of the popular Mobile Legends franchise, in which Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has gained particular popularity.

The owner of the TikTok acquired the game studio Moonton for $4 billion

Analysts consider the deal an important event in the history of mobile eSports. The purchase makes ByteDance a direct competitor to the Chinese holding Tencent. Since the rights to Mobile Legends will pass to ByteDance after the deal, the company will be able to directly compete with Honor of Kings and League of Legends - popular Tencent games, which have become a major source of revenue for the company.

Two sources told Reuters that Tencent also planned to buy Moonton Technology. However, ByteDance bypassed the holding, making a more profitable offer. This is not the first attempt by ByteDance to squeeze competitors in the gaming industry - for example, in October 2020, the company opened the Pixmain publishing division for mobile games and the Danjuan Games gaming platform.

In a statement, ByteDance said:

Through collaboration between teams and experience, Moonton provides the strategic support needed for the rapid development of Nuverse.

Moonton CEO Yuan Jing said that if the deal is approved by the authorities, Moonton will continue to act as an independent organization.^[1]

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