Mobile Legends: Bang Bang To Headline SEA Games Esports Tournament Anew

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang will again headline the Southeast Asian Games’ esports category as the biennial games head to Thailand this 2024, the Thailand Esports Federation announced.

MLBB is the first game announced for the SEA Games Esports category and has been a mainstay title since the Philippines hosted the tournament in 2019. While MLBB isn’t Thailand’s most popular esports title, Thailand has roots traced to the game, with Thai org IDoNotSleep crowned as the 2019 champion of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup (Now MLBB Mid-Season Cup).

“Thailand is one of Southeast Asia’s most mature markets for games and competitive esports, but there is still massive opportunity to grow the community further. The cooperation of game companies are a crucial part of this ambition. We are thankful for the support of Moonton Games in helping us achieve this shared goal of creating platforms for aspiring talents to pursue their dreams of representing their countries on the international stage,” said TESF president Santi Lothong.

Since esports’ inception in the SEA Games, national team Sibol has consistently won the gold in MLBB. For its first year, Sibol fielded in an all-star team. From 2022, players coming from one team have bannered Sibol for the entire tournament through qualifying rounds.

“The inclusion of MLBB as a medalled sport in the 33rd SEA Games marks a major milestone for us in Thailand; we’ve been seeing tremendous growth in both the quantity and competitive standard of the nation’s local players, especially women players. We’re delighted to collaborate with TESF again to create more opportunities to further support the flourishing Thai esports community, which builds on existing initiatives like the Asian Esports Games (AEG) in Bangkok later this year,” said Moonton Games’ head of esports ecosystem Ray Ng.

It’s unclear however if Thailand’s edition of the SEA Games will have an all-female category like in Cambodia last 2023.

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