The owner and creator of TikTok, Bytedance announced last Monday that they have recently acquired Moonton, the developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, for an undisclosed amount, under its umbrella studio Nuverse Studio.
The acquisition was part of a plan by Bytedance to set equal footing against rival conglomerate Tencent Holdings.
Mobile Legends is a MOBA game popular in Asian countries. It has surpassed 1 Billion downloads overall, and became a part of the 2019 SEA Games, for the first time. Though still struggling to have the game recognised in other markets such as North America and Europe. The game was also part of the apps that the Indian government has banned
With that being said, this makes Mobile Legends the first e-sports level title from Bytedance.
According to Lao Xuhua, a video game analyst from China, Mobile Legends was the best purchase Bytedance ever made, due to the game’s reputation and popularity.
Mobile Legends was created in 2014 by a former Tencent employee, named Xu Zenhua, who was forced to pay Tencent 19.4 million yuan (or about US$3 million) in 2018 due to breaking a non-competition clause with his former employer
Sources: South China Morning Post