MOBILE Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) is returning to the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 2025 in Thailand.
Organizers said this marks the fourth time that there will be medals at stake in the men’s and women’s MLBB esports tournaments.
The Philippines is one of the strong contenders, after beating eight other teams to win gold in the men’s tournament, through Team Sibol, while Indonesia outplayed five others to win gold in the women’s tournament.
Officials from Moonton Games, the company behind the game’s development, said MLBB currently holds the record as the most-watched esports event in SEA Games’ history.
It was successfully staged at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, with the men’s category recording an audience of more than 1.4-million online and the women’s side attracting almost the same number of viewers on their livestreams.
The 33rd SEA Games will take place from December 9 to 20, 2025 in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Chonburi, and Songkhla.
Participants from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam are expected to field in teams.
“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,” said Ray Ng, Head of Esports Ecosystem at MOONTON Games, in a statement.
In organizing the games, Moonton has teamed up with the Thailand E-Sports Federation (TESF) “to unlock economic and tourism opportunities for the Kingdom.”
Santi Lothong, president of TESF, believes that staging MLBB in Thailand will help grow the esports community further.
Organizers of the 33rd SEA Games have approved 44 sports disciplines with 567 events to be played in three provinces in Thailand.
