| Moonton | |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Industry: | Video games |
| Founded: | 2014 |
| Founders: | Justin Yuan |
| Hq Location City: | Minhang District, Shanghai[1] |
| Hq Location Country: | China |
| Products: | Mobile Legends: Adventure Sweet Crossing: Snake.io Watcher of Realms |
| Num Employees: | 1600+[2] |
| Num Employees Year: | 2023 |
| Parent: | ByteDance |
Shanghai Moonton Technology Co. Ltd., commonly known as Moonton, is a Chinese multinational video game developer and publisher owned by the Nuverse subsidiary of ByteDance and based in Shanghai, China. It is best known for the mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game released in July 2016.[3]
Moonton was established in April 2014 within the Minhang District of Shanghai, China.[4] [1] One of its co-founders was Justin Yuan, who became chief executive officer (CEO) of the company in late 2018 after Xu Zhenhua.[5] [6]
Moonton's first video game, the tower defense (TD) game Magic Rush: Heroes, was released on 6 April 2015.[7] Following the completion of Magic Rush: Heroes, Moonton began development for a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) Mobile Legends was released as Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA in 2016,[8] and became popular in Southeast Asia, notably in Indonesia and Malaysia, where it was the most-downloaded free mobile game app among iPhone users in 2017.[9] [10] The game is distributed by Elex Tech in the United States.
At present, the company claims to currently employ over 1,600 people throughout its global offices.[2]
| Year | Title | Genre(s) | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Magic Rush: Heroes | Tower Defense | Android, iOS |
| 2016 | Multiplayer online battle arena | ||
| 2019 | Mobile Legends: Adventure | Side-scrolling role-playing | |
| 2020 | Mobile Legends: Pocket | N/A (Mobile Companion App) | |
| Sweet Crossing: Snake.io | Snake | ||
| 2023 | Watcher of Realms | Role-playing game |
Riot Games suspected that Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA infringed on the intellectual property League of Legends, and demanded that Google remove the game from Google Play and App Store. Moonton removed the game before Google could act and eventually relaunched it as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang on 9 November 2016.[11] [12] [13] In July 2017, Riot Games filed a lawsuit against Moonton over copyright infringement, citing similarities between Magic Rush and Mobile Legends against League of Legends.[14] The case was dismissed by Central District Court of California in the United States on grounds of forum non conveniens.[15]
Tencent, the parent of Riot Games, followed with a separate lawsuit in Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court against Xu Zhenhua, previously a senior Tencent employee, for violating non-competition agreements.[16] Tencent won the lawsuit in July 2018 and was awarded a settlement of (million).[15]
On 22 March 2021, the developer of TikTok, BABE, Resso and Lark ByteDance, through its video game subsidiary Nuverse, acquired Moonton for billion. ByteDance reportedly won over a bid from Tencent.[17] [18]
is a minor revision of Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA but was considered a separate product in the forty-four–page lawsuit filed by Riot Games against Moonton.[19]