The hit MOBA game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) will be headlining the esports event at the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 2025 in Thailand.
The upcoming SEA Games 2025 will feature men's and women's competitions for Mobile Legends, marking the fourth consecutive time the popular esports title has been recognized as a medalled sport at this prestigious biennial multi-sporting event.
To recall, in the last SEA Games 2023 (MLBB event) held in Cambodia, our very own Philippine national esports team, Sibol, bagged the gold medal in the men's category, achieving a 3-peat win. Meanwhile, in the women's category, PH clinched silver, with Indonesia snagging gold.
Moreover, Mobile Legends is the most-watched esports event in SEAG history for both men's and women's categories. At the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, the men's category peaked at 1,462,871 viewers, while the women's category had 1,367,274 viewers, according to Esports Charts.
The 33rd SEA Games will take place from December 9 to 20, 2025, with Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Chonburi, and Songkhla as their primary host cities. The Thailand Games will feature participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand (host country), East Timor, and Vietnam.
Ray Ng, Head of Esports Ecosystem at MOONTON Games, said:
One of the core success factors for MLBB has been our deliberate strategy to make the competitive esports ecosystem accessible and inclusive to aspiring esports athletes. International sporting events like the SEA Games empowers esports players, organizations, and federations by giving them a globally-recognized competitive platform to bring glory to their respective nations. MLBB's return as a medalled event is another positive step forward for esports, which has become increasingly accepted by the Thai and wider global sporting community as a competitive sport.
According to MOONTON Games, the developer and publisher of Mobile Legends, it has partnered with the Thailand E-Sports Federation (TESF). The partnership is expected "to unlock economic and tourism opportunities for the Kingdom." They will work on "marketing and promotional support, player development initiatives, community engagement activities, and the sharing of insights and analytics."
Ray Ng shared:
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.
Santi Lothong, President of TESF, said:
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.
Moonton said it will reveal more details about the competing teams and the competitive formats in due course. So, stay tuned.
Can PH Team Sibol (MLBB) secure a four-peat victory in the upcoming SEAG 2025? Share your opinions in the comments below!
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