Saudi-owned Savvy Games Group poised to buy another mobile games giant

Savvy Games Group, the interactive entertainment division owned by Saudi Arabia, is ready to make another billion-dollar gaming acquisition.

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Sources tell Reuters that ByteDance is ready to sell its Moonton Technology division, and that a deal with Saudi-owned Savvy Games Group is in advanced discussions. Both companies are said to have agreed to preliminary deal proposals.

Moonton has a multi-billion dollar valuation thanks to the success of its top mobile hit, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The acquisition is said to be worth between $5 - 7 billion. With over 1.5 billion downloads and 110 million active players logging on every month, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is among the leading smartphone games on the market today.

As Gamespot rightly points out, this would be the sixth largest video game acquisition of all time.

If the deal goes through, Savvy Games Group may continue its significantly accelerated upward trajectory in the mobile space.

The Group, which is funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), has made multiple high-level acquisitions of studios that have either already established mega-hits, or gone on to create them.

In 2023, Savvy paid $4.9 billion to buy Scopely, who made the incredibly popular Monopoly Go--this game managed to reach the $6 billion revenue threshold faster than any other mobile game on the market today.

Savvy then went on to purchase Niantic, the devs behind Pokemon Go in 2025 for $3.5 billion.

Finally, Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group is also helping fund the gigantic $55 billion leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts.

It's been reported that Saudi Arabia's PIF principally funded the deal, with over 93% of the funds reportedly coming from the Savvy-owned wealth fund.