Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) is a well-known multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that lets players choose from over 100 unique heroes and compete in real-time matches with fellow players. Since its release in 2016, MLBB has been one of the most popular MOBA games for mobile devices, with millions of players worldwide and a reputable presence in the ever-expanding e-sports scene. In December 2024 alone, the game gained 7.6 million app downloads, adding to a total of over 641 million downloads at that point. The player base has remained active each month, with peak monthly users reaching 100 million.
American fans of MLBB were caught completely off guard yesterday when the game was suddenly banned in the U.S. following the ban of TikTok. A law referred to as Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, designated H.R.7521 was recently put into effect, outlawing the distribution and maintenance of applications provided by companies that originate from countries Washington considers adversaries. This includes China, which rendered TikTok, a social media app owned by a private Chinese technology company, ByteDance, illegal under the ruling. ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok has raised concerns in multiple countries due to its ties to Chinese laws requiring companies to cooperate with government data requests.
MLBB was developed and published by Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance (the company behind TikTok), which qualified it as another data threat under the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. MLBB is not the only surprise mobile game removal following in TikTok’s footsteps. Marvel Snap, a popular digital collectible card game featuring iconic Marvel characters, was also removed from American app stores and devices shortly after TikTok. Despite being developed by Second Dinner, a company based in California, Marvel Snap was published by a subsidiary of ByteDance called Nuverse, leading to its subsequent ban.
As with the removal of Marvel Snap, players of MLBB received no warning or notice before hand. Fans have taken to social media, namely X (formerly Twitter), in order to voice their confusion and concerns over the matter. One user called Natoxz brought up the issue of refunds for American users who had already spent real money on the game in the form of in-app purchases.
Other posts on X took a more emotional stance, with users like RazrBunee openly lamenting the game’s removal.
Currently MLBB is entirely absent from both the App Store and Google Play Store. When accessed via devices or the game’s website, American players are greeted with a message stating that “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is currently unavailable.” As of now the MLBB dev team have not provided a possible date or timeline as to when the game will return, but they claim to be “actively exploring possibilities to bring the game back in the future.”