KUALA LUMPUR: It's all about managing the growing pains for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League Malaysia (MPL MY) as they handle the hiccups in their rapid growth in the eSports industry.
The MPL MY, now in its 13th season, set a new record turnout in its opening week with over 3,500 fans at the MBSJ Stadium.
They also achieved a new regular season peak viewership record with 228,679 Peak Concurrent Views (PCV) during the HAQ-Homebois match earlier this month.
However, this was marred by an allegation of an attempt to fix matches and vandalism on a team's banner at the MBSJ Stadium recently.
Moonton, the developer of MLBB, was quick to address the issues. They concluded their investigation into the match-fixing allegation and imposed a one-year ban on Nik "Dominus" Muhyyiddin.
Regarding the vandalism issue, they launched initiatives to encourage fans to channel their emotions in a positive way.
Moonton's Games Marketing and Business Development Lead Fikri Rizal Mahruddin said that as newcomers in the sporting industry, they learned from observing others.
He said like fans of other sports, MPL MY supporters are also passionate, and the key is to educate them to handle their emotions in a healthy and positive manner.
"We have many case studies to learn from, looking at football or other traditional sports," said Fikri.
Regarding the match-fixing allegation, Fikri said they have tight standard operating procedures (SOPs) to manage such situations, and the teams accepted and understood the procedures.
"All our decisions are based on the SOPs and the rulebook. The best part is I feel that everyone who was investigated, gave their full commitment, which is good.
"We take integrity seriously, it could just be a joke for an athlete to offer others to fix matches but for us it's a breach of rules and there are SOPs to handle the situation."
