Mineski Global, in partnership with Moonton Games, successfully concluded the fifth season of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League in the Philippines and Indonesia, with an all-time-high viewership.
MPL-Philippines’ fifth season, which broadcast its playoffs and grand finals on May 31, 2020, was the most-viewed in the league’s entire history in the country, and also the most-watched Philippine esports event ever, registering a peak online viewer count of 317,330 for the finals’ match between OnicPH and Sunsparks.
The success of the MPL in the Philippines shows the potential of esports to be a major part of sports entertainment in the new normal in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In fact, the same hype was generated around MPL Indonesia, also organized by Mineski Esports. Their ‘El Clasico’ match between RRQ and Evos in the playoffs helped generate 702,689 peak online viewers before topping it off with a peak viewer count of over one million during the grand finals, wherein RRQ claimed the Indonesian championship.
“I’m very proud of our Mineski Esports Philippines and Indonesia teams for pulling off five seasons of the MPL with flying colors, all while setting records in terms of viewership for esports tournaments in Southeast Asia,” said Mineski Global CEO and founder, Ronald Robins.
Mineski Global’s Esports arm has been working closely with Moonton Games since the establishment of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang professional leagues in 2018. The league has produced the best players in the region when it comes to the mobile MOBA genre.
“In the recently-concluded fifth season of the MPL, MPL Indonesia and Philippines have achieved positive growth and breakthroughs in performance. We feel very grateful to the Mineski Esports team for their hard work and will continue to partner with them and contribute to the development of the esports industry in Southeast Asia. We will make efforts to bring greater experiences to our players and fans,” shared Lucas Mao, Moonton Games’ director for esports.
Sunsparks became the first-ever back-to-back titlist in the Philippine edition of the MPL. The team composed of, Allen Jedric “Greed_” Baloy, Kiel VJ Hernandez “Kielvj” Cruzem, Ashley Marco “Killuash” Cruz, Christian Provido “Rafflesia” Fajura, Jaypee Gonzales “Jaypee” Dela Cruz, Renz Errol “Renzio” Salonga Cadua, Rizzi Joy Pardiñas (manager), and Michael Angelo Bocado (coach) won a total of P1,258,000.
The MPL will re-open for its sixth season in July of this year.