Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group is in advanced talks to buy Moonton from China's ByteDance in a deal that might be worth around $6 billion.

The transaction would be among the largest cross-border acquisitions of a Chinese gaming company, highlighting the Gulf state's desire to create a global presence in the video game sector.

ByteDance, on the other hand, has been cutting back its gaming ambitions for nearly a decade, following an expensive effort to compete with competitor Tencent.

The parent company of TikTok spent billions of dollars acquiring and funding over a dozen studios, including Shanghai-based Moonton, which it paid $4 billion for in 2021.

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.

According to Financial Times, conversations are advanced, but no deal has been reached, citing persons familiar with the matter.

Savvy declined to comment, while ByteDance did not reply promptly to demands for comment.

However, Reuters has previously covered several aspects of the negotiations.

Moonton created Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, a free-to-play multiplayer fantasy fight game that has acquired popularity among esports fans in Southeast Asia.

According to the corporation, the decade-old game, which only became available in mainland China last year, has approximately 110 million monthly active gamers.