Moonton not for sale as Bytedance stays in the game with new CEO

• Rumours and assumptions that the TikTok owner were divesting themselves of one of their key gaming assets now appear to be scotched

It's no secret that Bytedance has been quietly edging its way out of the games industry after its major play to enter it. However, it seems that rumours and assumptions that the TikTok owner were divesting themselves of one of their key gaming assets - Moonton Studios - now appear to be scotched as news has broken of the appointment of a new Moonton CEO.

Zhang Yunfan was previously an executive at video-gaming company Perfect World and in fact joined ByteDance in April to lead the famous maker of hits such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, with the news of his appointment only just surfacing.

While at Perfect World, Zhang led the their mobile game publishing business being promoted to chief operating officer in 2015, two years after joining the Bejing-based company. During his tenure he administed the Perfect World's Chinese version of Dota2 prior to his departure in 2016.

Now, with his appointment the company is undergoing a “change in strategy” for the subsidiary according to quotes via Bloomberg.

Getting out of games… But not just yet

Social media giant Bytedance entered the world of games with a big spash in 2021, acquiring Moonton Techologies for the not inconsiderable sum of $4 billion.

It also also set up casual and hypercasual games developer Ohayoo (though that saw 100 layoffs in 2021).

However, the gaming dream soured as Chinese regulations have restricted releases and growth potential and the cost of developing world-class mobile hits came home to roost. 

Despite its heavy investment in games ByteDance rapidly pulled the plug, telling staff to halt work on unreleased titles Crystal of Atlan and sci-fi survival game Earth: Revival as it began to "look for ways to divest from titles already launched". 

“We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to center on long-term strategic growth areas,” a spokesperson said to Reuters. “Following a recent review, we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business.”

Reversal of fortunes

Soon after Bytedance also ceased investment at Nuverse, the the Shanghai-based studio was acquired by ByteDance in 2021 and the publisher of Mobile Game of the Year winner, Marvel Snap.

Meanwhile Tencent has took on two ByteDance game studios while Bytedance sold Red Alert Online dev C4 Games for $35.8 million

A Moonton sale had therefore - give the above trends - seemed a certainty with rumours of a Saudi buyer's offer being on the table.