TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has sold Red Alert Online developer C4 Games to film and entertainment company China Ruyi for ¥259 million ($35.8m).

As spotted by Niko Partners, the deal sees China Ruyi pick up a 100% stake in the studio.

The developer will continue to maintain operations on Red Alert Online following the deal, and Tencent will remain as the game’s publisher. Niko Partners said Tencent currently owns a 21.97% stake in China Ruyi.

The new owner said Red Alert Online had demonstrated a stable performance over the past three years, and was confident it would continue to generate “considerable revenue” in the future.

According to AppMagic estimates, the title has accumulated $385.9m from China's Apple App Store since launch. In 2023 alone, however, the title made $32.4m.

In a filing to the Hong Kong Exchange, China Ruyi said C4 Games had generated ¥2.9m ($401k) in profit after tax in 2022, down from ¥4.4m ($610k) in 2021.

Exiting the games business

ByteDance snapped up C4 Games in April 2021 for an undisclosed fee as part of the company’s expansion into gaming. Since then, the TikTok maker has stepped away from the industry and is “aggressively downsizing” its operations in the space.

Earlier this month it sold two studios to Tencent - one team based in Shenzhen rumoured to be working on an action game and the other based in East-China, which is said to be developing an anime title.