After five years of success in the South East Asian (SEA) region, Moonton has started expanding its domain with the recent launch of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Brazil, and the upcoming MPL Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Considering Moonton’s resources coupled with the overall development of the mobile esports landscape in these regions, fans of the game title are understandably very excited about what’s in store for the future of the game’s esports scene.
However, growing Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) beyond the SEA region may prove to be more challenging than many expect. Despite the mobile MOBA titles’ success in SEA, Mobile Legends is struggling to achieve the same hype in (North America) NA. According to Esports Charts, the M3 North America (NA) Qualifier, one of Mobile Legends’ first attempts to venture into the North American region, peaked at 19,819 viewers. While still a sizable number, this is relatively small compared to other MLBB esports events in the SEA region such as the MPL Indonesia Season 8 or the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup 2021.
In a conversation with AFK Gaming, Esports Manager at Moonton North America, Nicholas Chang, revealed that they are aware of the challenges ahead, but are confident that they can overcome them.
“We have many initiatives planned and we hope to make more waves there,” said Chang.
Given how much effort has been put into promoting Mobile Legends outside the SEA region, the concept of having an official MLBB League for the western audience may soon be a reality. However, one question remains unanswered. Will MLBB be able to replicate its success internationally while competing with Riot Games’ League of Legends: Wild Rift?
Moonton is waiting for the right time to expand its esports scene outside the SEA region
The publisher’s esports manager for North America, Nicholas Chang, tells us that Moonton has long been contemplating its esports scene’s expansion, specifically in the west. However, it was waiting for the right moment as it wanted to ensure that its players were at the forefront of any new opportunities that would be launched.
The demand for mobile esports is steadily growing in North America. Moonton has started tapping into the western mobile MOBA audience with the M3 World Championship NA Qualifier 2021. The tournament not only served as a regional qualifier for Mobile Legends’ major event but was also the first attempt from Moonton to grab the attention of gamers from the NA region.
The regional qualifier even featured two iconic Dota 2 personalities, Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner and caster Austin “Capitalist” Walsh. These two esports celebrities already have their own well-established fan bases and their presence in these qualifiers could have served as an introduction of MLBB to Dota 2 fans.
However, just hosting a tournament featuring key MOBA influencers will likely not cut it. Especially since Mobile Legends will be competing for a share of the western audience with Riot Games’ mobile MOBA title, Wild Rift. With League of Legends being one of the more prominent PC esports titles in NA, Wild Rift has a slight advantage as people who are already familiar with its PC counterpart, are likely to relate to the mobile version of the LoL PC.
But Moonton’s experience with successfully implementing a mobile esports scene in the SEA region could give it an edge. It is already one of the most viewed esports circuits in the world with a peak viewership of its biggest tournaments crossing 2 Million concurrent viewers, multiple times in 2021.
“Our main focus is on promoting and emphasizing the strength of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. There is no doubt we have seen strong success in Southeast Asia and we want to create similar opportunities and experiences for our players in NA,” said Chang.
One of its competitors, Wild Rift has begun expanding its esports coverage outside SEA. While Riot Games is marketing more towards SEA fans, the publisher has hosted various esports circuits from other regions such as Japan, Brazil, Europe, NA, and many more.
While the China Wild Rift League is the smallest in terms of viewership, that’s mainly because China has its own streaming platform such as DouYu, Huya and Bilibili
While Wild Rift certainly has the advantage in terms of how fast it can penetrate other regions outside SEA. Moonton considers this as a challenge and plans to use their expertise in delivering high-quality esports events in SEA to showcase to western mobile gamers.
“There are always going to be challenges when expanding internationally. However our expertise in the SEA esports scene has led us to confidently launch in the West,” stated Chang.
Mobile Legends esports is not directly competing against PC esports
PC esports is the front runner both in terms of viewership and revenue generation in the western esports industry. Esports titles such as Dota 2, League of Legends (PC), Valorant, and CS:GO continue to draw in the biggest sponsors and perhaps more importantly the lion’s share of viewership in these regions.
Nicholas Chang believes that PC esports will always have its own place in the esports scene and has its own distinct qualities. However, he expects that “mobile esports will rise in the near future as mobile games are becoming much more accessible and don't necessitate next-gen GPU graphics.”
The key factors that contributed to MLBB’s success in SEA include the undying support from its fans, its non-strenuous learning curve which allows new players to easily dive into the game with little to no effort, and exciting campaigns such as the Transformers and Star Wars collaboration events which attracted a lot of attention from fans around the world.
Similar factors could prove to be crucial levers for Mobile Legends’ expansion into the NA region, giving it an edge over PC MOBA titles.
The current expansion of Mobile Legends esports outside the SEA region
While Moonton is still trying to wait for the right opportunity to penetrate the western audience, it already started making its move in Brazil with its first esports league outside SEA. According to Esports Charts, the league garnered a total of 19,104 concurrent viewers over the duration of the esports event. While MPL Brazil’s performance falls a bit in comparison to Wild Rift’s Brazil Esports event, the Wild Tour, which accumulated 38,877 concurrent views, it’s definitely a good start in attracting mobile gamers outside its territory. For comparison, the earliest recorded seasons of MPL Indonesia and MPL MY&SG drew in 98,927 and 35,905 peak viewers respectively according to Esports Charts.
The Brazilian team, Vivo Keyd which won the championship title in the first season of MPL Brazil will be representing the region in the upcoming M3 World Championship. Unlike last year’s M2 World Championship, Brazil finally has its own official league where it can find its representative for future international Mobile Legends esports events. For now, Brazil is the only official league outside the SEA region. However, fans can expect Moonton to expand further to more regions with NA and the Middle East being their primary targets if the qualifiers for the M3 World Championships are anything to go by.
The expansion outside the SEA region is inevitable for the esports scene of MLBB. It is bound to happen, given how much success it already has in the SEA region. Whether it will be able to establish its own fan base outside its territory will depend on how Moonton will be able to promote and get players hooked on its mobile MOBA title.
