Who is the parent company of MLBB? Everything you need to know about ByteDance
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) was initially launched in July 2016 in a few countries. Its gameplay revolves around two teams, consisting of five players each. The primary goal is to destroy the enemy's towers while defending their own across three different lanes. Players can also complete specific objectives to apply strategic pressure on their opponents.
However, as of January 19, 2025, the game is no longer accessible in the United States due to security concerns raised by the regional government about its parent company. This article highlights the developer of MLBB along with a few key details.
Parent company of MLBB or Mobile Legends Bang Bang
MLBB was developed and published by Moonton, a child company of ByteDance. It has also created other famous games like Watcher of Realms and Magic Rush: Heroes.
After the recent ban, the game features the following message upon being launched by a US player:
"We are sorry that Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is not currently available in your country or region (USA)."
A similar situation applies to other mobile games, such as Marvel Snap, developed by Nuverse, another ByteDance subsidiary. As a result, players in the United States must explore alternatives until the ban on Chinese companies is lifted.
Also read — Mobile Legends: Bang Bang banned in the USA
Key details of ByteDance
ByteDance is a Chinese technology company best known for developing TikTok, a popular video-sharing platform. It was founded in 2012 by two young engineers Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo with the goal of capitalizing on the growing mobile apps industry.
The company's initial projects were Neihan Duanzi, an app for sharing jokes, and Toutiao, a personalized news aggregator. Toutiao was powered by advanced machine learning algorithms, which ultimately attracted over 300 million monthly active users. In the subsequent years, the company successfully established itself with the development of TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, and other useful apps.
In the meantime, ByteDance also developed competitive mobile games like Land of Empires, Marvel Snap, and MLBB, which further enhanced its income and popularity.
ByteDance's annual revenue has consistently grown over the years. Starting with $17.15 billion in 2019, the company doubled its revenue in 2020 and then further increased it to $58 billion in 2021. In the subsequent years, ByteDance gathered $85.2 billion in 2022 and approximately $120 billion in 2023. However, this growth is expected to decline due to the recent ban in the United States.
Check out more articles related to the game:
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang tier list for January 2025
- Snapdragon MLBB Pro Series Challenge Season APAC: Results, highlights, and qualified teams for Finals
- Mobile Legends Bang Bang Johnson "Sovereign of Realms" legend skin: How to get and animations