The widely successful Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game Mobile Legends will be hosting the finals of the first ever Professional League tournament in Myanmar with esteemed local partners Hall of Gamers (HOG).
Moonton, the company behind the mobile game giant Mobile Legends, will be holding an official Mobile Legends Pro league (MPL-MM) that will allow hopeful E Sports players to enter an arena where not only prizes up to US$ 30,000 but also opportunities to participate in further competitions to be held across South East Asia.
The qualifiers and other preliminary stages of the MPL-MM began on in September and October, awarding 800 dollars each to 8 teams that passed the qualifiers.
Final of the current season will begin on December 15, where teams will play elimination matches, at a live event in Myanmar Plaza at 4pm. The 1st prize winners will be awarded US$10000, first-runner ups US$5000, second-runner ups US$3000 and third runner-ups US$1,000.
There will also be individual cash prizes of up to US$400 for a variety of categories such as “Best Players” of the tournament.
Moonton’s E Sports Manager Lius Andre Saputra had said that this event have been a massive success with active participation from fans, intense competition and live stream broadcast of the tournament matches via Facebook Live was watched by many viewers.
HOG, an organization dedicated to elevating Myanmar’s E Sports scene with some official support from the government, had also expressed happiness at making strides in this industry relatively new to an emerging nation like Myanmar.
Myanmar is a nation with a rapidly burgeoning population of above 53 million with at least half of it occupied by younger people. It is one of the reasons why despite setbacks, difficulties and pressure – Myanmar is still being eyed by many foreign investors as the final frontier in South East Asia.
While Myanmar entered the international scene much later than its contemporaries in the South East Asia, the people were quick to adopt digital ways of consuming everything from food, entertainment, education etc with many enterprising youths coming together to form organizations such as HOG.
It aims to not only bring about newer forms of option for youth-centric education and entertainment but also employment opportunities as well as more venues for businesses to invest in.
It was also recently announced that upcoming SEA games will feature E Sports with 2 spots each in 3 categories: mobile, computer and consoles. Mobile Legends was one of the games chosen for the mobile category. There has yet to be more details announced over the selection process of national teams to compete in those E Sporting events, especially for many developing countries in the Asean region that still find E Sports rather unfamiliar.
However, companies like Moonton and organizations with foresight such as HOG, are the sure-fire sign that it is only a matter of time before Myanmar’s E Sport industry flourishes.
