"This time the target is TikTok owner ByteDance's gaming subsidiary Moonton which could sell for as much as $7 billion. Reuters reports that the "broad terms" of the transaction are already agreed upon, with the official deal possibly getting announced as early as March. ByteDance purchased Moonton back in 2021 for $4 billion and Saudi Arabia, through its game investment vehicle Savvy Games Group, is apparently willing to pay over 50 percent more than that just a few years later."
"So what the hell does Moonton make to justify that spiking valuation at a time when so many other parts of the game industry are financially plateauing? The Shanghai-based subsidiary's biggest game is the 2016 MOBA Mobile Legends: Bang Bang which has been downloaded over a billion times. Last year it also launched the auto battler Magic Chess: Go Go, the RPG Silver and Blood, and the coop vertical shooter Acecraft."
"That last game is a thinly-veiled remix of Cuphead and features cartoon icons like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tom, and Jerry as fighter pilots. Some players feel like it's essentially a microtransaction casino dressed up in the retro animation stylings of Studio MDHR's hit 2017 indie action platformer. Weirdly, the game randomly went offline for all U.S. players starting last month. Moonton promised make-up rewards once it returns but it's still mysteriously MIA."
Savvy Games Group is pursuing acquisition of Moonton for as much as $6–7 billion, offering over 50 percent more than ByteDance paid in 2021. Moonton is the Shanghai-based maker of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which has been downloaded over one billion times, and recently launched Magic Chess: Go Go, Silver and Blood, and Acecraft. Acecraft resembles Cuphead and uses classic cartoon characters, prompting player criticism about microtransactions; it went offline for U.S. players and promised make-up rewards remain pending. A $6–7 billion price would place Moonton among the top ten gaming acquisitions, following Saudi purchases of Scopely and Niantic.
Read at Kotaku
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