Report: Saudi Arabia eyeing $7 billion purchase of mobile studio Moonton
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is eyeing another notable video game acquisition.
Reuters is reporting that Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF), is in talks to acquire Moonton from TikTok owner ByteDance for between $6 billion to $7 billion.
Two sources claimed the deal could be announced this quarter with both companies having agreed on broad initial terms. ByteDance, Moonton, and Savvy Games did not respond when approached for comment by Reuters.
For anybody unfamiliar with those names, Moonton is the mobile company behind Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Watcher of Realms, and Magic Rush: Heroes.
The global studio was established in 2014 and currently has over 2,000 employees working at offices across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Latin America, and China. Its flagship title, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, has amassed 1.5 billion installs worldwide and over 110 million monthly active users.
Savvy Games Group is fully-owned by PIF, the state-backed investment fund operated by the Saudi government.
PIF has invested heavily in the video game industry—purchasing Pokemon Go via Savvy Games Group subsidiary Scopely; acquiring stakes in major studios such as Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive, and Capcom; and moving to take EA private in a $55 billion deal alongside a consortium of other investors.
As noted on the Savvy website, PIF subsidiaries are "led by the vision of HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud," who is purportedly attempting to establish Saudi Arabia as a hub for a growing global games and esports industry.
Bin Salman is the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. His regime has come under criticism from human rights advocacy groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which accuse the crown prince of quashing free speech, abusing migrant workers, and oppressing the LGBTQ community.
Notably, bin Salman has also been linked to the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, and was still facing questions over the killing as recently as November 2025.
When discussing PIF's proposed EA buyout last year, analysts told Game Developer the move could result in oversight from owners "pursuing geopolitical objectives."
