Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group is in advanced negotiations to purchase Moonton from China’s ByteDance in a transaction that could value the game developer at roughly $6bn.

The deal would rank among the biggest cross-border takeovers of a Chinese gaming company and underscore the Gulf state’s drive to establish a global presence in the video games industry.

ByteDance, however, has been scaling back its gaming ambitions nearly a decade after an expensive effort to compete with rival Tencent.

The TikTok parent invested billions in acquiring and funding more than a dozen studios, including Shanghai-based Moonton, which it purchased in 2021 for a reported $4bn.

Savvy has been backed with tens of billions of dollars by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and tasked with building the world’s leading gaming and esports company.

Discussions are said to be at an advanced stage, though no agreement has been finalised, according to Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the discussions.

Savvy declined to comment, while ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

However, Reuters previously reported aspects of the negotiations.

Moonton developed Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, a free-to-play multiplayer fantasy battle title that has gained strong traction among esports fans in south-east Asia.

The company says the decade-old game — which only debuted in mainland China last year — attracts around 110 million monthly active users.