Smart and Dark League Studios join forces to further grow Esports in the Philippines

“Our partnership with DLS is in line with our commitment to provide the best gaming experience to Filipinos. We at Smart have always believed in the ability of Filipinos to dominate sports of all kinds – including Esports. Through our collaboration with DLS, we hope to empower more aspiring Esports athletes to level up their gameplay and compete in a much bigger arena." ~Al S. Panlilio, PLDT Inc and Smart Communications President and CEO

PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has teamed up with Esports event management and production team, Dark League Studios (DLS) to further advance Esports and empower aspiring gamers from the grassroots to level up to the pro leagues and become national athletes.

Dark League Studios (DLS), an Esports event management and production team, and Smart Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of PLDT wireless, have joined forces to empower aspiring gamers from the grassroots to level up to the pro leagues and become national athletes.

Smart and DLS will collaborate on the Smart GIGA Arena, the nation's first all-in-one Esports platform that provides amateur players of popular games such as Mobile Legends: Player's Unknown Battleground, Bang Bang, Call of Duty Mobile, and League of Legends Wild Rift.

The partnership will allow Smart to further grow GIGA Arena in terms of the number of tournaments, onboarding of game developers, and provide consumer centric activities within the platform. 

Since its launch in 2022, Smart GIGA Arena has hosted over 2 million users in nearly 1,000 tournaments, offering more than PHP 4.2 million in prizes.

Through this partnership, Smart and DLS have also committed to work closely and collaborate with the Philippine Esports Organization (PeSo) to adopt industry best practices and maintain the highest standards of integrity.

Both Smart and DLS are gearing up to engage more Filipino gamers with new tournaments and enhanced features on the GIGA Arena platform.

 

Bringing the best gaming experience to Filipinos

“We share Smart's vision for Philippine Esports, and we are excited to leverage our expertise and experience in engaging the gaming community and inspiring Filipino gamers to fulfill their dream." ~Alfrancis Chua, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer of Dark League Studios

ESPORTS FOR ALL. PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. and Dark League Studios have formally launched their groundbreaking partnership to help boost the national esports program and provide a platform for aspiring esports players across the country to fulfill their dream. In the photo are: Bobby Y. Rosales, Co-founder and Chairman of Dark League Studios; Al S. Panlilio, PLDT  and Smart President and CEO; and Alfrancis P.. Chua, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Dark League Studios.

“We are glad to see the support of Smart to elevate the industry and align our initiatives in favor of the sport.  This will help generate more opportunities for aspiring Filipino gamers to showcase and develop their skills as they aspire to become the next generation of Team SIBOL athletes.” ~Marlon Marcelo, Executive Director of Philippine Esports Organization

The Philippines’ Fastest and Best Mobile Network

Smart empowers Filipino gamers with the Philippines' fastest and best mobile network, as recognized by Ookla, the global leader in mobile and broadband network intelligence.

Smart is first and only Philippine mobile operator to win Ookla’s Best Mobile Network award in Q1-Q2 2022 and Q3-Q4 2022. To get this rare and prestigious recognition, Smart won both the Fastest Mobile Network and Best Mobile Coverage awards within the same reporting periods. 

As of end-March 2023, Smart's 3G, 4G/LTE and 5G network covers 97 percent of the country's population.

To learn more about Smart's Esports programs and efforts and services, follow its official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, or visit its official website at smart.com.ph.

ONE Esports and Moonton Announce Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational

“I’m proud of how the ONE Esports and Moonton relationship has blossomed to now include this unique competition, which, for the first time, will enable the best teams from each of the four Mobile Legends Professional Leagues to compete in an online tournament. I thank the Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia for supporting our mission to share and celebrate the stories of esports heroes who ignite the world with strength, hope, dreams, and inspiration. Without them, delivering this first-of-its-kind competition to the esports community would not be possible.” ~Carlos Alimurung, CEO of ONE Esports

20 Southeast Asian teams will compete for a $100,000 USD prize pool in a tournament presented by the Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia.

“The MPL Invitational is an event that can give the opportunity for our teams from different MPL countries to play in a professional setting so as to gauge each region’s level of play against one another. Esports is developing at an extremely fast pace in Southeast Asia, and we are so grateful to have our partners, teams, players, and community for showing their support and commitment to the MPL ecosystem. We saw a big increase in our peak concurrent users with Indonesia hitting 2.8 million and Philippines hitting over 700,000 in our latest MPL. We look forward to breaking another record and bringing MLBB esports into the international esports stage.” ~Lucas Mao, Moonton Esports Managing Director

ONE Esports, a subsidiary of ONE Championship™ (ONE), the largest global sports media property in Asian history, and Moonton, developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, today announced the 2020 Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational (MPLI). Featuring the best teams from the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL), the tournament will take place online across five countries in Southeast Asia. 20 invited teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Singapore will compete for the $100,000 USD prize pool.

“I highly appreciate and support ONE Esports’ 2020 Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational as a virtual sports tourism event that will create compelling and engaging travel experience content to encourage domestic tourism travel in Indonesia, while adhering to health protocols. This is in line with our goal to promote Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability in the super priority tourism destinations in Indonesia including Borobudur, Lake Toba, and Mandalika.” ~Wishnutama Kusubandio, Minister of Tourism & Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia

Set to begin on 27 November, the tournament will span two action-packed weekends with the finals culminating on 6 December 2020. The event will be broadcast to fans across the world via both the ONE Esports and Mobile Legends official streaming channels. The event is made possible by the Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, which is the presenting partner for the event

Tournament Information

Viewers will be treated to a tournament format that will include the top 20 performing teams from the MPL regional leagues:

• Indonesia: Alter Ego, Aurafire, Bigetron, EVOS Legends, Geek Fam ID, Genlix Aerowolf, ONIC Esports, RRQ Hoshi
• Malaysia: Orange Louvre Esports, Todak
• Myanmar: Burmese Ghouls, Ronin Esports
• Philippines: Aura PH, Blacklist International, Bren Esports, Execration, Omega PH Esports, ONIC PH
• Singapore: EVOS SG, Resurgence

The tournament will be livestreamed in five different languages, including Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Burmese, English, and Filipino. Details regarding the livestream will be provided in due course via our social announcements and tournament website at oneesports.gg/MPLI.

For more updates on ONE Esports, please visit oneesports.gg, follow us on Instagram @oneesports and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/oneesports.

 

For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit https://www.onefc.com/about-us/, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.

About ONE Esports
ONE Esports is Asia’s largest championship esports series, featuring the world’s biggest games, the world’s best teams, and the world’s best gamers. As the Home of Esports Heroes, ONE Esports unleashes esports heroes who ignite the world with hope, strength, dreams, and inspiration. ONE Esports also owns oneesports.gg, a Top 5 global esports site that reaches millions of visitors each month, and delivers to its community the latest esports news, reviews, features, how-to guides, and in-depth stories on esports athletes, teams, and fans.

 

About Mobile Legends Professional League
Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) is held in four regions and represents the highest level of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang competition in each region (Indonesia, Malaysia-Singapore, Myanmar, and Philippines), with a grand prize of more than half a million USD across regions per season. Moonton created these leagues to serve as a path for the young generation of athletes to pursue their dreams of becoming a MLBB professional player and to support the esports ecosystem in every region. MPL is well on its journey to being the best and the biggest esports league in the world.

 

About Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia
The Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, or abbreviated as Kemenparekraf RI, is a Ministry in the Indonesian Government in charge of tourism affairs and creative economy. The Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy is led by a Minister of Tourism (Menparekraf) who since October 23, 2019 is held by Wishnutama Kusubandio.

 

About ONE Championship™
ONE Championship (ONE) is the largest global sports media property in Asian history. Headquartered in Singapore, ONE is the world's largest martial arts organization, hosting bouts across all styles of martial arts such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Karate, Kung Fu, Silat, Sanda, Lethwei, Mixed Martial Arts, Tae Kwon Do, Submission Grappling, and more. ONE hosts the biggest sports entertainment events across Asia, featuring some of the world's best martial artists and world champions on the largest global media broadcast in Asia. ONE Esports, a subsidiary of ONE Championship, runs Asia's largest global esports Championship Series with some of the biggest blockbuster game titles in the world. With a focus on both martial arts and esports, ONE Championship is currently the largest producer of millennial live sports content in Asia. In addition to its digital platforms, ONE Championship broadcasts across 150+ countries with some of the largest global free-to-air and digital broadcasters, including Star Sports, Tencent, TV5, Astro, ClaroSports, Startimes, Fox Sports, Thairath TV, Turner Sports, Skynet, Mediacorp, Great Sports, Mediaset Italia, ProSiebenSat.1, Dubai Sports, and more.