Game developer Moonton Technology and esports management and production company Esports Middle East (ESME) have announced a partnership for the upcoming Mobile Legends: Bang Bang tournament series Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League Middle East and North Africa Series (MLBB MENA).
The two companies will work on organising the MENA-focused series, which will be divided into two seasonal splits and have a $200,000 prize pool (~£147,000). The winner of the tournament will also go on to represent MENA in the 2022 M4 World Championship.
Esports Middle East is a talent managment, production, and broadcast company founded in 2014. The company owns the first Arabic esports news portal in the MENA region, as well as Arabia E-Advertising, an influencer marketing agency. ESME has previously worked with Riot Games, OPPO, and Nvidia.
Zacky Dong, Marketing Director at Moonton, said: “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has been committed to promoting esports to all regions of the world and has achieved millions of esports fans so far. We are very glad to include the MENA region in the MLBB Professional League alongside our partner ESME this year. We believe that the viewers can expect a mesmerizing esports experience across the biggest broadcast streaming platforms with various surprises in store.”
The MLBB MENA tournament will be hosted on Arab Esports, ESME’s self-styled proprietary ‘AI esports league platform’. Qualifiers for the tournament are open for all teams from the MENA region, and the league will last for six months, starting in early 2022.
Saeed Sharaf, Founder & CEO of ESME, also commented: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Moonton to reach and interact with the large mobile gaming player community. With over 400 million unique mobile users in the Middle East and North Africa, we’re certain that mobile esports are the future for the area, thanks to its accessibility and the dedication of a well-known publisher like Moonton.”
