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Esports is one of the most attractive and popular fields to hop into in recent years. It has proven its worth and the amount of attention it gets even from the mainstream public. To a few, esports is merely forming teams and playing as five, but it gets more serious than that. Esports has formed its very own ecosystem outside of casual gaming, and the two realms seem to be growing in their own separate ways.

However, the esports ecosystem has a problem with sustainability and longevity. It’s certainly no secret that several esports titles are clearly dead in regions where the game is no longer thriving. Catering to this issue, some game developers have found ways to mitigate such a downhill long-term path, one of which is franchising.

While the benefits of franchising vary depending on the game, the general idea is to have the main game developer act as a franchiser. Potential franchisees can then purchase slots to be able to participate in organized, seasonal leagues hosted by the franchiser. Normally, every region has its own league, either separated per nation or one for each continent, depending on the organizers.

Status Quo

This trend of franchising could be found even in days of traditional sports and judging its effectiveness, various game developers have decided to adopt the same strategy. Riot Games, for instance, chose this path when it comes to their long-time titles like League of Legends starting the past few years.

On the one hand, not all game developers believe in such a structure in their ecosystem. For instance, Valve’s Dota 2 doesn’t implement franchising as they let third-party organizers host Dota 2 events and let teams participate in them. Furthermore, Riot Games themselves didn’t choose to recycle the same franchising idea for their latest esports title VALORANT.

Then again, the esports world isn’t limited to only the big PC esports games mentioned earlier. While titles like Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and League of Legends are huge in regions such as North America, South Korea, Europe, and so on, their Southeast Asian counterparts are geared towards mobile-esports title instead.

Games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG: Mobile have admittedly bled into the mainstream culture in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and many others. Aside from becoming part of the youth’s culture, it has grown into an industry that could be considered on-par, or even better than their PC halves.

Factors that led to their ever-growing popularity include the accessibility of those games requiring only a smartphone, the entry barrier with a low difficulty level, as well as how elegant the organizers orchestrated the respective regional markets.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

To be more specific, consider how Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s organizer Moonton developed the local scene. Unlike Valve, for instance, Moonton gets really involved with figures in the local scene such as tournament organizers, talents, team owners, and professional players. They did what Valve exactly did not do when it comes to these regions, and their efforts are clearly paying off.

Their way of sustaining the industry in the aforementioned regions is by holding seasonal leagues. They have a list of teams that participate regularly in different events which eventually build up to continental-level tournaments like Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) and later international-scale tournaments like the M2 World Championship.

Getting involved with different team owners assist in building trust between the two parties and ensures mutual loyalty. Moonton and event organizers gain plentiful benefits that stem from hosting leagues, and team owners could safely qualify into tournaments without the need to go through numerous phases of Open Qualifiers or Closed Qualifiers like that of Dota 2.

Pros and Cons of Franchising

With the risk of teams not playing in a prestigious tournament virtually gone and the securing of large-scale esports organizations under their belt, this system looks to be beneficial all-around. But, like many other things, this system comes with its own set of downsides if handled incorrectly.

Team organizations would need to commit dedication to play the seasonal leagues and paying the fees required to purchase the franchise slot. In comparison to the Dota 2 system implemented by Valve, teams are much more flexible when it comes to choosing which tournaments they would like to participate in.

When esports franchising thrives depends a lot on how large the scene is in the different regions. If the game is insanely popular and attractive, like in many Southeast Asian countries, then this high-risk, high-reward model could indeed be successful.

This model breathes and survives while relying quite significantly on promotion and marketing, as well as sponsorship. Hence this why organizers like Moonton needs to develop relationships with teams, organizers, media, players, and numerous other figures critical to the local scene. Otherwise, it would be a tough decision to make and could rather be detrimental in the long-run.

Mobile-Esports Franchising in East Asian Countries

In addition to the increasing popularity of mobile-esports particularly in Southeast Asia, East Asia also has a lot of untapped potentials. Their PC counterparts are amongst the most successful regions in the entire world, especially League of Legends. Countries like China, South Korea, and Japan have a long-lasting League of Legends esports scene that commenced as early as 2012.

Riot Games hosts multiple League of Legends seasonal leagues like the LoL Pro League (LPL) in China, LoL Champions Korea (LCK) in South Korea, as well as LoL Japan League (LJL) in Japan. This structure resonates with the path which Moonton decided to take in Southeast Asia, except with Mobile Legends instead.

What then remains as a question is whether or not they could emulate the same system in these East Asian countries. Like in Southeast Asia, gaming, in general, has emerged as part of the mainstream youth culture. So why would organizers like Moonton not carve the same path in East Asia, considering how similar of a potential the region has?

Well, a lot of that has to do with overcoming the ginormous popularity of PC games in different regions. South Korea’s League of Legends PC scene is essentially breathing air to many youngsters. Likewise, China’s love for PC-based esports title is pretty much mainstream. In these two nations, it’s considerably difficult for mobile-esports games to pierce into the market.

Gaming in Japan

On the other hand, the Japanese scene is quite unique to its own. The Japanese people are well known for their love for video games. They’re dubbed as the golden age of video games, and this shouldn’t be all too surprising knowing how huge companies like Nintendo, Sega, and Sony are in Japan.

Therefore, shouldn’t esports be thriving too in a nation with such an enthusiastic gaming market? Although surely there are developing titles like Japan’s League of Legends scene given the presence of LJL, esports isn’t exactly the same in the region. While gaming itself is huge, esports has only started to develop in Japan.

This ironic yet factual situation is parallel to the opinion of a Japanese professional Mobile Legends player Obuyan. Obuyan is part of 10 Second Gaming Frost, a Japanese esports team that is also the only team representing Japan in both the M1 and M2 World Championships held in 2019 and 2021 respectively.

Japanese Esports Scene

In a virtual interview right before M2 kicks off, Obuyan shared his opinion regarding the Mobile Legends scene back home and the esports scene as a whole. Obuyan explained that “generally, the esports scene in Japan is very underwhelming and is still under a massive development, especially Mobile Legends. However, gaming itself is huge in Japan, but esports has barely developed.”

Moreover, Obuyan gave an important comparison between League of Legends and Mobile Legends. As mentioned, League of Legends already has a local scene thanks to the presence of LJL, but Mobile Legends still has no seasonal league system implemented in Japan.

In Southeast Asian countries, the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) is vital to sustaining the ecosystem in the region, similar to how leagues like LPL and LCK greatly lift their respective local scenes. When asked whether MPL is needed in Japan, Obuyan pointed out that “MPL is very, very much needed in Japan.”

Obuyan believes that the reason why the current biggest MOBA game in Japan is League of Legends is partly due to the existence of LJL. The LJL was first created in 2014 and remains part of the local Japanese LoL scene ever since. If Moonton plans to develop MPL in an East Asian country, then Japan might be their next best target.

Youngsters hooked into gaming could be easily be transformed into highly committed and dedicated esports gamers and better yet, the Japanese PC-based esports culture isn’t as massive as the ones in South Korea and Japan. There could very well be other highly talented Mobile Legends players like Obuyan who’s waiting to unleash their skills.

Closing Remarks

It should be amusing to see how the mobile-esports scene could unravel in the coming years, now that the Southeast Asian scene has very much matured. Organizers like Moonton, Tencent, or Riot Games have great opportunities in certain nations where the market allows for such bold moves which these companies are known for.

Perhaps it’s just a matter of time before under-developed esports scenes are tapped into by these giants considering their current reception and enthusiasm of gaming. Also, if Obuyan and his 10s Gaming squad could make a name for themselves back home through winning M2, it would certainly boost the outlook of the Japanese mobile-esports scene and interest from mainstream audiences.

Cover Image by Inven Global.

With the recent introduction of the new 2021 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) system by Valve, various professional players and teams have begun to prepare their upcoming roster for this season. As the new year kicks in, formerly teamless players have gradually gathered to play together and form stacks, in hopes of qualifying for the promising 2021 DPC season.

Interestingly, the Indonesian competitive scene has transitioned to an almost entirely different phase, whereby many of the old esports traditions and cycles are ultimately abandoned. The Indonesian Dota 2 pro scene started to follow the steps taken by other neighboring Southeast Asian countries and their players.

This shift marks an essential step into ensuring that the Dota 2 scene does not propel into a limbo stage, like its League of Legends counterpart, for example. Indonesian Dota 2 players have yet again proven that they are indeed still hungry for victories and are eager to make changes deemed necessary.

Indonesian Players in 2021

Unlike previous seasons, the 2021 DPC allows for greater flexibility in terms of team rosters, as seen from the less strict roster changes rule announced by Valve. Furthermore, there was a total of four Open Qualifier rounds with two teams advancing per round. As a result, many players were intrigued to form casual yet competitive teams in hopes of igniting the Indonesian scene once again.

What’s different, however, is that more and more Indonesian players are now playing with a mixed, Southeast Asian roster, rather than an all-Indonesian team. For instance, two Indonesian players, Dreamocel and inYourdreaM, teamed up with players from Singapore and Malaysia to form Team ZeroTwo (formerly Team Cow).

Similarly, inYourdreaM’s former teammate who’s also an Indonesian, Jhocam, is playing with a group of Singaporean, Thai, and Korean players in Team HOYO. What both ZeroTwo and HOYO are doing is certainly not the mainstream, as Indonesian players are rarely found playing with a mixed roster.

While ZeroTwo and HOYO are leaning more to the casual side, the South Korean giant T1 has recruited the Indonesian Support duo Xepher-Whitemon. These two are playing with players from Cambodia and the Philipines. It looks like the nation’s best players are gradually finding it more beneficial to play with a mixed roster.

Nevertheless, there are still some Indonesian teams that uphold an all-Indonesian roster, such as BOOM Esports who had just recruited Drew, long-time veteran organization, The Prime, as well as the underdogs of Army Geniuses. These three organizations are some of the ones which survived the not-so-friendly 2020 competitive season.

Decreasing Interest from Organizations

One clear trend that’s currently taking place in the Indonesian Dota 2 scene is the gradually diminishing interest coming from esports organizations to back these teams up. Arguably, only BOOM Esports and The Prime are left as the remaining ones.

This wasn’t the case only two years ago, whereby Indonesian organizations with Dota 2 rosters are all over the place. Even the most OG Dota 2 organization like Rex Regum Qeon is far and gone from the Dota 2 scene, as much as their mobile-esports halves are continuing to rise in popularity.

 

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Aside from RRQ, EVOS Esports, Alter Ego, and PG.BarracX are presently in the same situation. It should be, however, of no surprise that these organizations left the scene as it wasn’t the most fertile field to invest in, unlike that of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG Mobile.

With that, it’s difficult to resist playing with a mixed roster, to not only find out whether it works better than an all-Indonesian lineup but also open the opportunity to be picked up by an international organization. Risking it all on an Indonesian organization to back your team up may not be a sustainable plan in the long run.

How Good Are Indonesian Players Anyway?

A question that comes into mind is whether or not Indonesian players are as good as the rest of Southeast Asia? If so, why is an all-Indonesian roster barely working out? Theoretically, shouldn’t a group of five talented players, all of which are of high Match Making Rating (MMR), dominate the competitive scene?

As of the time of writing, at least 30 Indonesian players are within 500 highest-rated players in the Southeast Asian leaderboard. Numerous players are found to be just as individually skilled as other players in Southeast Asia. Yet, only a few Indonesian teams have attained much achievement in the competitive field.

It should be very ironic to see how Indonesian teams perform very well in national tournaments and Ranked Matches but finds it difficult to make a scratch on the surface of international-level tournaments.

Indonesian players are very high skilled individually. However, the moment they play as five, it seems like they just lack the exposure of playing against international teams. Yes, they may be great locally, but once exposed even to a Southeast Asian tournament, the gameplay easily falls apart.

It’s difficult to provide the exact reasoning behind this weakness, but probable ones include the lack of scrims against international teams, limited training time, and perhaps staying all too comfortable with what they already know in terms of in-game knowledge.

These aren’t entirely the teams’ fault, as indeed the Indonesian scene lacks local competitive events and tournaments in recent years. With the lack of local support, teams can hardly make adjustments nor explore new strategies in practice.

To make matters worse, the international scene has shifted to regional-level tournaments with the premiere introduction of DPC, further slowing down the development of Indonesian teams. They struggle to even make it through Southeast Asian Open Qualifiers and back home, they have no tournaments to participate in!

Indonesia is filled with multiple talented individuals who are just as skilled as players from the West and the East. Their biggest challenge is to make use of what they have and play on the toughest competitive levels of Dota 2.

Risk-taking is also a problem with Indonesian players who are gifted but aren’t willing to say, relocate to a different country. It is only in recent years when doing so is common, as some players aren’t always willing to move out, or to communicate with a team in a foreign language.

Learning from Other Esports Titles

This series of events could snowball into a wholly dead scene which should ultimately be avoided if the Indonesian scene wants to avoid what had happened to the League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene.

What happened to these two is essentially the lack of player regeneration and tournaments. It was always the same set of players shuffled among teams and the hype also died down within local fans with the lack of local events.

Indonesian fans love it when they attend in-person tournaments as it really lifts their competitive spirit. The Mobile Legends scene clearly benefits from organizing live events since their earliest competitive seasons.

I do vividly remember how packed the venue was during Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup 2017. It is safe to say that the word “crowded” is an understatement. This bombardment of support from local fans is a shiny boost for not only the competing players, but also organizations who are interested in investing in the scene.

Furthermore, the Indonesian Dota 2 scene of today is slowly moving in the same direction as its Counter-Strike scene back in 2017-2018. It was clear that the Indonesian scene was dying, and so several CS:GO players have taken the risk to play with foreign teams. They were among the first to actually make the leap and things worked out for the most part.

For example, BnTeT and Xccurate made a groundbreaking decision to play with the Chinese team TYLOO, which arguably is their only way out from the diminishing local scene. In the same fashion, more and more Indonesian Dota 2 players are now being exported to foreign teams or choose to play in a roster of mixed players.

Implications on the Future of the Scene

Gone are the glory days of an all-Indonesian lineup, that perhaps reached its peak in Dota 1 with the Indonesian Fnatic roster led by the legendary veteran RitteR. Changes, nonetheless, are inevitable and critical for the longevity of the scene.

But Indonesia isn’t the first to walk in this path. Players from neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, and the Philippines have taken the exact same steps of playing with foreign teams and abandoning the pride of playing with a team consisting of only one nationality.

They have learned that to cope up with the international scene, one must not remain long within the comfort zone. And this worked for the most part! Just take a peek at TNC, Fnatic, and countless other European teams that benefitted from making such decisions.

Playing with a group of foreign players isn’t always easy: there are communication barriers, potential differences in how players understand the game, connection issues, and so on. Yet it’s a risk worth taking if they would like to survive the competitive field.

Dota 2 isn’t the easiest of all esports games and it does take a lot of commitment when playing professionally. Progress requires changes, and changes require running the extra mile. Whether or not this method of mitigation will work out, in the long run, is an open question, but what’s certain is that these players have to work even harder and make themselves more noticeable by foreign organizations.

Closing Remarks

With the DPC 2021 Season 1 already in motion, it will be exciting to see how all of these changes unravel. As of the time of writing, the roster of BOOM Esports and two Indonesian players in T1 are seeded in the Southeast Asian Upper Division. They are up against the region’s best teams around.

Similarly, Army Geniuses and The Prime made it to the second stage of the Closed Qualifiers, together with ZeroTwo and HOYO. Eight out of the twelve participating teams stand a chance to advance into the Lower Division and would be one step closer to a Major Playoffs. Hopefully, these radical changes in roster lineups could reignite the local Indonesian Dota 2 scene once again.

Cover Image Originally by ESL.