China's MLBB World Championship in Indonesia Becomes Most-Watched Mobile Esports Event

(Yicai) Jan. 27 -- The seventh world championship tournament of Chinese game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang held in Indonesia has become the most-watched mobile esports event in history.The peak viewership of the final night of the M7 World Championship exceeded 5.68 million, setting a new world record for mobile esports audience, according to data from Esports Chart. In addition, 3,000 spectators watched the event offline in the Tennis Indoor Stadium Senayan in Jakarta, and more than 10,000 fans gathered outside the venue.Tickets for the finals were sold out upon release at a price of about CNY200 (USD30) each. However, they surpassed CNY1,000 (USD145) on the secondary market.When MLBB launched a decade ago, developers spotted the huge development potential in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, and quickly entered the market and established a firm footprint, Andrian Pauline, chief executive officer of Indonesian esports team RRQ, told Yicai. By the time other game developers realized this opportunity, MLBB had already taken a dominant position in the local market.Indonesia is now MLBB's largest market by monthly active users, Tinger Xu, head of international esports event at the game's developer Moonton, a subsidiary of China's ByteDance, told Yicai.The game's ecosystem originated in Indonesia, making it Moonton's most important market going forward, Xu noted, adding that many local fans traveled to Jakarta overnight by bus and train from their hometowns to cheer for the Indonesian team at the M7 World Championship."Moonton understands that Indonesian users have limited smartphone configurations and internet speed, so it does not release large update packages with large device performance requirements at once," Pauline said. "Instead, the company gradually rolls out lightweight updates to better adapt to Indonesia's local network environment and data transmission capabilities."Game publishers tend to fall into the trap of "blindly pursuing top-tier graphics," which is precisely what most Indonesian users' devices cannot afford for the time being, he added.The lagging infrastructure issue can be related to the fact that Indonesia has more than 10,000 islands, making it impossible to rely on traditional cable networks for data transmission and requiring satellite networks, which have high construction and operational costs, Pauline explained.Hosting esports in the country is another main driving force behind MLBB's long-term operation in Indonesia, Justin Widjaja, CEO of Indonesian esports team ONIC, told Yicai. This year’s MLBB world championship was the second hosted in Indonesia in seven years.Esports not only gives players a sense of purpose but also brings entertainment value to the public, fostering a strong emotional connection to the game among players and fans who tune in to the professional league every week, Widjaja noted. In fact, the watch time of the Mobile Legends Professional League Indonesia exceeded 100 million hours for each of the past five seasons.MLBB has also become an integral part of Indonesia's entertainment culture, Widjaja said.Since the establishment of the Indonesian esports association, which recognized esports players as athletes, Indonesian schools have become increasingly receptive to esports, viewing them as a legitimate hobby and form of digital entertainment, which has also attracted more players, Pauline noted.Indonesia will continue to be one of the largest esports markets in Southeast Asia in the future, with its biggest advantage being a huge base of game users, Pauline pointed out.However, Moonton is also exploring the development of larger markets. MLBB will focus on expanding into the European market and set up a new Americas division this year, Moonton's CEO Yuan Jing said during the M7 World Championship, adding that the M8 World Championship will be held in Türkiye next year.MLBB will join the Esports Nations Cup and become an official event at the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games, Yuan noted.Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione