Why the Gaming Market in Southeast Asia Will Be Significantly Important In the Future

The gaming industry used to be monopolized by several large firms from the United States, Europe, and Japan in the 20th century. However, since the 2000s, this trend began to change. Today, even small indie developers can target the global market thanks to the development of the internet and mobile devices. The internet has allowed small developers to share their products and creativeness with gamers around the world without any boundaries. Some examples of these games that have, out of nowhere, exploded in popularity are Flappy Bird and Among Us.

However, not much research or studies have been conducted that discuss the development of the gaming industry and gaming culture in Asia. To fill the void, Phan Quang Anh conducted a research titled Shifting the Focus to East and Southeast Asia: A Critical Review of Regional Game Research. The study discusses the gaming industry and culture in the Asian region, particularly East Asia and Southeast Asia.

East Asia’s Gaming Industry and Culture

There are several reasons why Asia is becoming increasingly important for the gaming industry. One of these reasons is the size of the gaming market in the region. Both in terms of revenue or player numbers, Asia is a very profitable region for many gaming companies. Furthermore, several Asian countries also house many of the big gaming companies we know today, such as Nintendo and Sony in Japan, Nexon in South Korea, and Tencent in China. A majority of governments in Asian countries also put a substantial amount of investment towards the development of the game industry in their respective countries.

Walkman became one of the primary culprits behind the individualistic culture iin Japan. | Source: SCMP

However, each country in the Asian region has different gaming cultures. For instance, gamers in Japan tend to be more individualistic. The culture of individualism in Japan itself began to emerge in the 1970s when Sony launched the Walkman. The growth of the game ecosystem in Japan is also heavily correlated with its local culture. As a result, most Japanese gamers prefer to play single-player games.

On the other hand, gamers in South Korea and China actually consider gaming as a social activity. They like to play games with their friends, hence why co-op games or competitive games are more popular. In fact, the social or competitive culture of gaming cultivated in South Korea and China is one of the reasons why the two of them produce so many successful pro esports players.

The online gaming culture in South Korea emerged around 1998 when Blizzard launched StarCraft. Playing online games quickly became a favorite hobby for the younger generation at that time. Through the widespread PC bangs — or internet cafes — across the country, playing games is also a relatively inexpensive activity. South Korea’s competitive culture has also made its esports ecosystem flourish. Local TVs began broadcasting esports, and being a pro player became a legitimate career path. This esports phenomenon in South Korea will later spread to other countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Despite the similar gaming culture between South Korea and China, the two countries still have quite a contrasting gaming market. For example, China’s government is far more involved with its local gaming industry than South Korea’s. They frequently create regulations and promote local game companies to compete with foreign brands. Chinese game companies with innovative ideas will often receive government support for their growth. As a result, in 2020, 19 of the 100 games with the largest revenue generated in the United States were all produced by Chinese companies.

Southeast Asia’s Gaming Industry and Culture

Apart from East Asia, Southeast Asia is also a region to be reckoned with by game companies. According to Newzoo and Niko Partners, the growth rate of mobile games in Southeast Asia in 2014-2017 reached more than 180%. This figure is also predicted to continue to grow for the next five years. Shibuya Data Count also forecasted that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the gaming industry in Southeast Asia will reach 8.5% in the 2020-2025 period. The six countries in Southeast Asia with the largest gaming markets, with no particular order, are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines.

One of the factors driving the growth of the game industry in Southeast Asia is the development of internet infrastructure or, more specifically, the emergence of 5G technology in 2020. Another factor that comes to play is the rising popularity of esports. As esports content in YouTube and Twitch continues to amass thousands of viewers, game companies invested in the region will also thrive . Free fire, for example, benefitted a lot from content creation and managed to become the most downloaded mobile game in 2019.

Free Fire is the most downloaded game in 2019.

Furthermore, free-to-play games also play a huge role in the success of the game industry in Southeast Asia. Combine this with the vast implementation of cloud gaming, the possibilities for the gaming industry in SEA will be limitless. Interestingly, more than 55% of mobile gamers in Southeast Asia are over 55 years old, while only 8% are teenagers. These stats can be explained by the fact that mobile games are usually catered to more casual users.

However, these casual mobile games usually don’t last long, and their popularity can be vulnerable at most times. Thus, most developers of these types of games need to continuously promote their games through advertising. If constant advertising is not conducted, the relevance of casual games can fade in a matter of weeks or even days.

Game Industry in Indonesia

Just like China, the governments of Southeast Asian countries are also involved in the local gaming industry. However, the regulations set by Southeast Asian governments are usually not as strict as those in China. Therefore, foreign gaming companies might have a better chance to expand their market in the SEA countries like Indonesia.

Indonesia is a country with the 4th largest population in the world. Its population is also mostly dominated by the younger generation, who loves building online communities. According to Newzoo, this is a massive advantage that the Indonesian gaming market has over other countries in SEA. The popularity of mobile games in Indonesia is, undoubtedly, a golden opportunity that local developers need to seize

Mobile games have dominated the Indonesian gaming market for the past few years, and fortunately, 49% of mobile gamers do not hesitate to spend money to buy in-game items. Newzoo’s data showed that Indonesian mobile gamers spend an average of $9 USD every year. The strategy game genre is also a favorite among Indonesian gamers and is also populated by gamers with large spendings. 41% of gamers, in fact, are willing to buy in-game items in the strategy genre.

The cost of making mobile games is much cheaper than online PC games.

Mobile games are also generally cheaper to produce than PC games. As a comparison, creating mobile games usually cost around $1 thousand USD, while the expenses of making PC games can cost 10 times more than that. Therefore, it is not surprising that most game developers in Indonesia opt to create and develop mobile games.

The potential of the gaming industry is also recognized by the Indonesian government. The government often supports local gaming companies by holding various gaming-related events, such as Game Prime. Additionally, a lot of ministers, such as the Minister of Communication and Information and the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, have expressed their support towards the local gaming and esports industry. Prior to this, Indonesia was also successful in lobbying ASEAN countries to include esports as an exhibition sport at the 2018 Asian Games and declaring esports as a legitimate sport (winners will get medals) at the 2019 SEA Games.

Game Industry in Singapore

According to Darang S. Candra, Director for Southeast Asia Research, Niko Partners, the spendings of gamers in Southeast Asian countries is directly proportional to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in each country. Countries with relatively low GDP per capita, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, have an Average Revenue per User (ARPU) of around $4-6 USD for PC games and $5-8 USD for mobile games. On the other hand, countries with higher GDP per capita, such as Malaysia and Singapore, have higher ARPU, reaching $15-20 USD for PC games and $25-60 USD for mobile games.

Singapore, for many years, has been considered the economic center or powerhouse in Southeast Asia. Although Singapore’s population is far smaller than Indonesia’s, its internet penetration rate is exponentially superior, reaching 80% of the total population. Furthermore, 60% of Singaporean internet users are classified as gamers who spend over $189 USD on games every year. English is also one of the primary languages used in Singapore, which is why Western games also have a relatively high penetration rate in the country.

The Singapore government itself has been interested in developing its gaming industry since 1995. The government has supported startups in the gaming sector while also opening and financing various research labs dedicated to gaming. They also set strict regulations, especially those related to piracy. Heavy penalties and charges were imposed to discourage people from using pirated products. As a result, foreign established gaming companies became highly interested in investing and opening offices there. Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, for instance, have opened branches in Singapore.

Translated by: Ananto Joyoadikusumo. Featured image via: Unsplash.com.

The Esports Industry’s Polemic Against Certification

Talk is cheap. Everyone can claim that they are proficient at a certain skill or field. However, proving your competency is a whole other matter. Since the dawn of the education system, schools and universities have used scores or GPAs to measure the capabilities of students. For working professionals, certificates can be one way to validate one’s expertise. What about in the world of esports? Is there currently any form of certification system in the esports industry?

Esports Certification Institute’s Plan to Create a Certification Program

The Esports Certification Institute announced their plan to hold a certification exam in the field of esports at the end of April 2021. The goal of behind this plan is to push the culture of meritocracy and foster professionalism in esports players. Additionally, they also hope that the existence of this certification program will make the world of esports more inclusive.

How do you get a certification from ECI? Well, of course, you just need to take their exam. The test from ECI covers three main criteria: esports knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and statistics. In addition to being given a certificate, people who passed the exam will also be included in the ECI membership program, which provides the opportunity to network and discuss with ECI advisors.

ECI was founded by Sebastian Park, former Esports VP of the Houston Rockets NBA team, and Ryan Friedman, former Chief of Staff of Dignitas, an American esports organization. ECI’s advisory board members consist of executives from various companies involved in esports, from venture capital firms such as BITKRAFT, legal firms like ESG Law, to esports organizations such as Cloud 9 and Gen.G.

ECI wants to create a certification program for esports

“One of the biggest problems that exist in the esports industry is that employers have no way of validating the skills of job applicants,” Park said, according to Yahoo. “Most esports organization wants to hire someone based on their skills and abilities, but it can be very difficult to do so.”

Of course, the exams from ECI are not free. You have to pay $400 USD to be able to take the exam. The ECI that they have conducted their market research before determining this entrance fee. They claimed that their exam fee is relatively cheaper when compared to certification exams in other fields. For example, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification costs $1000 USD. For the underprivileged, ECI has also collaborated with various educational institutions to create a free exam program.

The reason ECI created a certified exam in the world of esports is to solve the problem of finding qualified personnel in the field. Even Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is willing to donate US$4 million to the University of Michigan to open an esports major. However, ECI’s vision to create a certified test has actually drawn a lot of protests from parties in the esports industry, which caused ECI to postpone its plan of establishing the certification program.

Unfortunately, in Indonesia, there are currently not many programs that offer these sorts of certification. One of the only popular ones in the country is perhaps RRQ Academy. People who want to practice their gaming skills and potentially go pro in the future can join RRQ’s program. Currently, RRQ Academy offers training for four games: Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, LoL: Wild Rift, and Free Fire. After attending classes for two days, participants will get the certificate. Unfortunately, RRQ Academy explained that the certificate that the academy participants received does not include the assessment of their abilities. However, the certification does not have an expiration date.

Now, let us discuss the pros and cons of establishing certified exams in the world of esports.

Advantages of Having a Certification Program in Esports

Certificates can be proof of someone’s competency in a field. For example, anyone can create a Facebook account but not everyone has a Facebook Blueprint certificate. This certificate is only given to people who really understand how to use various digital marketing products provided by Facebook and its subsidiaries.

In addition to enhancing credibility, another advantage of having a certification program is that it extends knowledge and skills, according to the International Society of Automation. Furthermore, taking a certified exam will also enhance one’s reputation as a professional and prepares them to climb the career ladder. Certification will also allow companies to find employee that matches their needs.

We are excited to announce the launch of Esports Certification Institute, a Public Benefit Corporation created to foster professionalism, promote meritocracy, and increase diversity and inclusion in esports. ECI was created to give another path into esports for industry hopefuls pic.twitter.com/NQyxjiWOBc

— EsportsCI (@EsportsCi) April 27, 2021

Gary Ongko, CEO of BOOM Esports frequently compares the esports industry to the Wild West. “Many workers in esports industry are esports enthusiasts, but most of them do not have any form of certification,” he said when contacted by Hybrid.co.id. “Because there is no legitimate esports major, maybe this certificate can help us hire people who want to work/enter esports.”

Meanwhile, according to the Head of Operations, Mineski Indonesia, Herry Wijaya, the emergence of a certification system in esports is proof that more and more people are getting interested in working in the esports field. Hopefully, as more people get involved in the industry, there will also be a larger talent pool available to benefit esports.

The requirements for getting a job in the esports industry have continuously increased over the years. As mentioned previously, universities have even started to open esports majors. However, the industry will still have to ultimately wait a few more years before being able to hire people with esports majors.

Certification programs can also filter people who are truly committed and passionate about their career. Obviously, getting a certificate will require an extensive investment in money and personal effort. Getting a certificate at RRQ Academy, for example, requires you to play Rp. 199 thousand and spend 2×6 hours in online classes.

Lastly, certification allows for the appreciation of skills. For example, a person with a Facebook Blueprint certificate will be recognized as someone with the capability of maintaining an important Facebook Page.

Disadvantages of Emerging Certification Programs in Esports

As mentioned previously, one of the main functions of a certification program is to validate the competency and credibility of someone’s skill sets. However, the scope of work in the world of esports is incredibly broad. The qualifications required to become a team coach is obviously very different from a videographer. The esports industry is also still relatively young and there are no “best practices” like in other, more mature industries. The most obvious example of these differing standards is the way people write the word “esports”. While some may simply write esports, others may use e-sports or even eSports.

Indeed, certification programs can help companies find competent employees that suits their needs. However, making certificates an absolute requirement to work in an esports company can cause major problems. According to Tobiaz M. Scholz from The Esports Observer, the existence of a certified exam can hinder a lot of people from entering the world of esports because not everyone will have the chance to take them.

My esports qualifications:

University Degree❌
Esports Certificate❌
Literal World Champion ✅

— Isaac CB (@AzaelOfficial) April 28, 2021

ECI previously also revealed that one of its goals for making certified exams is to make the esports industry more inclusive. However, studies show that the existence of standardized tests can potentially deepen the chasm of racism or socioeconomic differences. Of course, not everyone in the world has access to the same level of education. In Indonesia, for example, high school students living in urban, more prosperous areas will have a better chance of getting high National Examination scores than students living in underdeveloped regions.

On the other hand, it is important to note that just because many people in the esports industry are against the existence of a certification program doesn’t mean that the world of esports doesn’t need credible professionals. It is quite the opposite, actually. The Head of Operations in Mineski Indonesia, Herry Wijaya, said that the esports industry is in desperate need of people who are highly skilled in the respective fields. Furthermore, he also felt that the skill sets applied in the esports world can be learned from other industries as well. He took broadcasting as an example.

Today, esports is able to attract many sponsorships due to its massive growth and young viewership demography. Esports, for the longest time, have been able to gather large audiences by making interesting broadcasts. Of course, creating an engaging show will require the collective work of skilled and experienced individuals who understand fundamental broadcasting techniques. To meet this need, many esports broadcasts frequently hired employees who had previously worked at TV stations.

“We already have a business plan, we already know what kind of people we need, so we just have to look for someone professional and experienced. For example, if we need someone to manage our events, we will hire someone who understands event and cost management, which are skills taught in economic studies,” Herry said. “This is essentially the hiring and workflow process in today’s esports industry 2.0.”

The CEO of RRQ, Andrian Pauline alias AP, also echoed Herry’s comments. He mentioned that the disciplines used in the esports industry – such as videographers, referees, or social media specialists – already exist in other industries. Those jobs are not something available only in the world of esports.

Esports teams and conventional sports teams have the same order. | Source: Hotspawn

“There are a lot of similarities between the esports industry and the conventional sports industry. There are coaches, managers, analysts, players, and sponsors,” said AP. “There are people who manage the team’s training schedule, scout for new upcoming players, and run the academies to nurture young talents.”

Furthermore, the AP said, “The most distinct difference between the two industries is the product. Football has been around for more than 100 years, while esports is still very young because it is based on video games. Although games always evolve from time to time, the whole framework stays the same. The skills that are required in the field don’t change. Therefore, if there were to be some sort of certification of esports, it would be more geared towards the general understanding or knowledge of the esports world.”

Herry then compared the current esports industry with the esports industry in the early 2010s, which he labeled as the era of esports 1.0. During this era, people who work and get involved in esports are only passionate about the scene. However, they do not necessarily have expertise in the profession they are engaged in. As a result, they will need to learn these mandatory skills by themselves. Let us take Eddy Lim, President of IeSPA and founder of Ligagame, as a case study.

“Mr. Eddy does not have a broadcasting background, but Ligagame works in the broadcast sector. So, he learned the necessary knowledge and skills to fit in,” said Herry. However, nowadays, most esports companies usually look for people who are already proficient or experienced, which is why tournament organizers frequently hire employees who worked in the TV sector in the past.

Alternatives to Certification

Even though the esports industry currently does not have any form of established certification systems, there are other ways the esports organizations can use to find competent professionals. Many of them have used scouting methods in the past to find talented young players. Tournament organizers like Mineski also have their own practices to screen their employees.

“We usually examine the applicant’s portfolio and work history first,” said Herry. “After we identify their skills and abilities, we begin the testing process. During the interview, we also try to confirm their competency in their field. For example, if an applicant claims to be skilled in handling esports events, we will test him/her about the basic knowledge of handling events and how to efficiently organize them.

Fathimah Prajna Iswari, People Team Lead, Garena Indonesia, also said that certification was not the main criterion when it comes to recruiting new employees. Of course, having a certificate is always a plus. However, Garena will mostly use screen candidates in the early stage by observing their performance in formal education.

“The more important qualities that recruiters notice when selecting candidates is their problem-solving skills, motivation to complete a set of tasks, the curiosity of and willingness to learn new subjects, teamwork aspects, and so on.” Fathimah mentioned.

Broadcasting is an important part of the world of esports. | Source: Twitter

Generally speaking, there are three stages in the recruitment process at Garena. First, they will review all incoming applications and screen which candidates will enter the next stage. As mentioned previously, formal education will be the main focus of the Garena team in this recruitment phase. Qualified candidates will then be invited to participate in an interview with the hiring manager in the second stage. Candidates who passed this stage will proceed to the final interview with Garena Indonesia Country Head.

“Particularly for esports, Garena is looking for people who have good project management and communication skills while also prioritizing teamwork,” said Fatimah. “Candidates with relevant experiences, such as internships in broadcasting events, will have a significantly higher chance to get hired.”

Conclusion

Passion is no longer enough if you want to work in esports. Today, people who want to enter the esports industry must have the necessary skills that organizations seek. Fortunately, most knowledge and proficiency from other industries can be translated into the esports sector. Before working at Hybrid.co.id, I was mostly involved with technology. However, after switching professions to an esports journalist, I can use the writing and journalism skills I learned at my previous job.

The popularity and immense growth of esports have attracted more and more people to work in the industry, especially because it is one of the few jobs that can survive the COVID-19 pandemic. However, newer and inexperienced people have a lot of to catch up before they can be qualified to work in esports. Certified training and tests can be a simple way to learn basic esports knowledge and solve this problem.

While certificates can aid workers in proving their competency and help companies in finding the employees with the right skillset, ownership of a certificate cannot be an absolute requirement for esports-related jobs. After all, the esports sector is incredibly dynamic, and a wide range of expertise is required throughout the industry.

In the end, we cannot really blame the agencies who want to create certification programs for esports since it can be used to filter people who are passionate about pursuing a career in the sector. However, if not executed properly, these certifications might cause their own fair share of problems.

Translated by: Ananto Joyoadikusumo

A Deep Dive Into the Viewership Statistics of MPL Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore

Moonton organizes the national league of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in four countries, namely Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. MPL Indonesia and Singapore ended in early May, while Philippines’ and Malaysia’s MPL finished on Sunday, May 30, 2021. With all the MPLs coming to their conclusion, we can compare the four Mobile Legends national leagues and measure their popularities. We will be using data from Esports Charts as our primary benchmark.

MPL League Viewers

Of the four national leagues of Mobile Legends, MPL ID and MPL PH generally accumulates the most spectators. At its peak, the viewership numbers of both these leagues can go over 1 million. More precisely, the peak viewers of MPL ID reached 1.8 million while MPL PH reached 1.4 million. Furthermore, the total watch hours for both leagues also amount to tens of millions of hours: MPL ID has 54.5 million watch hours, and MPL PH has 33.1 million watch hours. In terms of the average number of viewers, MPL ID and MPL PH has around 321 thousand and 201.7 thousand viewers, respectively.

Peak viewers of MPL in 4 countries. | Source: Esports Charts

Moving on to Malaysia, MPL MY reached approximately 3.8 million watch hours with an average of 20.7 thousand viewers. At its peak, MPL MY’s viewership number did reach 111.2 thousand. On the other hand, MPL SG underwhelmingly accumulated 213.4 thousand watch hours, 2.6 thousand average viewers, and 22.7 thousand peak viewership numbers. However, 2021 is, after all, the first season of MPL SG. Before 2021, the Malaysian and Singapore MPLs were integrated into one league.

Total watch hours of MPL in 4 countries. | Source: Esports Charts

There are several obvious reasons why MPL ID and MPL PH have far more viewers compared to MPL MY or SG. The first factor that comes into play is the larger population of both countries. According to data from Worldometer, Indonesia’s and the Philippines’ population in 2020 will reach over 273 million and 109 million, respectively. In comparison, Malaysia has a total population of 32 million people, while Singapore’s population is only a mere 5.8 million people.

Therefore, comparing raw watch hours and viewership numbers will not paint the correct picture regarding the popularity of each MPL league. Fortunately, Moonton also broadcast MPL in English (other than the usual first language of each country). In an attempt to find the proper benchmark to measure the popularity of each country’s MPL, we can compare the statistics based on English MPL broadcasts.

The MPL English Broadcast Audience

With data from Esports Charts, we compared the number of viewers from MPL ID, MPL PH, MPL MY, and MPL SG English broadcasts. Even though MPL ID, by far, has the highest number of spectators, there are only an average of 28.5 thousand viewers on its English broadcast.

The same trend occurs in both MPL MY, where the viewership numbers differ drastically from 111 thousand to only 10.2 thousand. Although MPL PH also has a decrease in spectators on English broadcasts, it still has a relatively large audience of 146.8 thousand. On the other hand, the number of peak viewers from MPL SG did not change, accumulating 22.7 thousand spectators.

Peak viewers of MPL English broadcasts in 4 countries. | Source: Esports Charts

In Indonesia, the matchup between EVOS Legends and Bigetron Alpha in the final round was the match that attracted the most spectators. At its peak, the match gathered as many as 1.84 million viewers, 1.81 million of those viewers were from the Indonesian broadcast. The English broadcast, unfortunately, only merely surpassed a peak of 28.5 thousand spectators.

The trend in MPL MY and MPL PH is somewhat different from MPL ID. In Indonesia, the final round is usually considered the “main event” where it will attract the most audience. This notion applies to both the Indonesian and English broadcast of MPL ID. However, in MPL MY and MPL PH, the popular matches in the English broadcast differ from the popular matches broadcasted in their native language.

Most popular matches in MPL PH in general (above) and on English broadcasts (below). | Source: Esports Charts

So far, the most popular match from MPL PH is the final round match between XctN against Blacklist International, which managed to get an audience of up to 1.4 million people. In the English broadcast of MPL PH, however, NXP.SOLID versus Laus Playbook Esports (LPE) on Week 1, Day 2 was the most viewed match (attracting peak viewership numbers of over 146.8 thousand).

The same thing occurs in MPL MY. The most popular match in the Malay broadcast was between TODAK and RSG on Day 3 of the Playoffs. On the other hand, the most-watched match in the English broadcast was between Still Moving Under Gunfire (SMG) team against the Geek Family on Day 1 of the Playoffs. The two matchups gathered an audience of around 112.2 thousand and 10.2 thousand people, respectively.

Most popular matches from MPL MY in general (above) and on English broadcasts (below). | Source: Esports Charts

With regards to the view count on each platform, YouTube still accounts for the most of the views, followed by NimoTV, and finally, Facebook. As an illustration, the final match between EVOS Legends and BigetronA has around 999 thousand peak viewers on YouTube, while NimoTV only had about 854 thousand peak viewers and Facebook merely reached 146 thousand viewers.

In Indonesia, Moonton broadcasts MPL on the three platforms mentioned above. In the Philippines, apart from these three platforms, MPL PH also broadcasts through TikTok. Both Malaysia and Singapore broadcast MPL on Youtube and TikTok, with the exception that Malaysia also uses the Facebook platform.

Peak viewers of MPL on different platforms. | Source: Esports Charts

The graph above illustrates the contribution of each platform in terms of viewership numbers. In Indonesia, the two most widely used platforms are YouTube and NimoTV. Facebook, interestingly, contributes most of the views in MPL PH, followed by YouTube. In Malaysia, the popularity of YouTube and Facebook almost has the same popularity, accumulating around 60 thousand views. Lastly, YouTube seems to be the most preferred platform to watch MPL by Singaporean fans.

Disclosure: Hybrid is a media partner of Esports Charts. This article is translated by: Ananto Joyoadikusumo

The Correlation Between Free-to-Play Games and Thriving Esports Scenes

League of Legends, Dota 2, Mobile Legends, and Free Fire are some examples of games with massively successful esports scenes. Uncoincidentally, they are also free-to-play games. Of course, this trend begs the question: why are most games with big esports ecosystems use the free-to-play model?

Esports is a clever method to generate long-term income, which does not apply in the Pay-to-Win method. Apart from the long-term business model, which we will discuss in more detail later, there are several factors that allow esports to grow rapidly in free-to-play games.

The Different Types of Video Game Monetization Models

Before discussing the correlation between free-to-play games and thriving esports scenes, let’s take a look at the various monetization models in the game industry today. Free-to-play is just one of several monetization systems used by game developers. Other models that are commonly adapted today are the pay model and subscription model.

In the pay model (sometimes referred to as single payment), players are required to pay a certain amount of money to be able to play a game. In other words, you pay for the game upfront, and the game is yours forever to play. The younger generation or today’s mobile gamers who are used to the free-to-play games may feel unfamiliar with this system. However, the pay model is actually the most common and oldest monetization methods in the gaming industry. Most AAA game developers (like Cyberpunk 2077 or GTA V, for example) and indie developers (like Stardew Valley) do use the pay model extensively.

Games using the pay model are usually not too focused on esports. Of course, there are exceptions to this trend, such as most of fighting games (Street Fighter Series, Tekken Series, and so on) or sports games (FIFA, PES, NBA 2K series, and so on). Counter-Strike: Global Offensive also initially used the pay model but then was made free-to-play in 2018.

In the subscription model, players have to pay a certain amount of money every month to play the game. This model is rarely used in Indonesia and is more commonly known by western gamers. MMORPG games, like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV Online, often use the subscription model.

The subscription fees of World of Warcraft. Source: Blizzard Official Site

World of Warcraft actually integrates different monetization models at once. For example, players must first pay a certain amount of money to get access to the latest expansion, then pay again every month to continue playing. The expansion access fees are usually more expensive (around IDR 500 thousand, similar to the price of AAA games), while the monthly subscription price is much cheaper (around IDR 150 thousand per month)

The subscription model may feel similar to the Battle Passes (like the Royale Pass on PUBG Mobile or Starlight Member on Mobile Legends) in free-to-play games. However, the key difference between the two is that Battle Passes don’t restrict you from playing the game if you don’t pay the monthly fee. On the other hand, in World of Warcraft, free-to-play players can only level up characters to level 20. Subscriptions will allow players to level up to level 50, and purchasing expansions will increase the limit to level 60.

As the subscription model continues to develop, payment of fees is no longer limited to real money. In World of Warcraft, for example, you can pay the subscription fee using the “gold” you get in-game (through crafting, hunting, or trading). Of course, players will need to collect a ton of gold to be able to pay the subscription fees on a consistent basis. Therefore, players have to either sacrifice their time in-game or real-world finances to play the game.

The most modern monetization system in the gaming industry is free-to-play. As the name suggests, players don’t have to spend any money to play the game. However, if the game is free, how can the developers generate revenue to sustain the game? Well, most free-to-play games nowadays implement various types of micro-transactions.

Weapon skins are an example of a micro-transaction used by the free-to-play game, VALORANT. Source: VALORANT In-Game Store

Micro-transactions provide the option for players to purchase cosmetics with real money. In some games, micro-transaction items are usually just add-ons and do not provide any unfair advantage to the gameplay. Examples of these items are character skins in MOBA games or weapon skins in FPS games. However, some in-game micro-transactions will allow the player to get stronger or reach higher levels faster. Purchasing the double XP item in RPG games is one example. Free-to-play games that include the option to afford items with unfair advantages are called Pay-to-Win.

The micro-transaction is not only used by free-to-play games. World of Warcraft and Street Fighter V also such in-game purchases to complement their gameplay experience.

In addition to the micro-transaction method, free-to-play games are now starting to explore new monetization methods to add to their source of income, one of them being esports.

Why Are Successful Esports Games Mostly Free-to-Play?

“If you don’t pay for a product, you are the product.”

A slightly different version of this quote was mentioned when the television was first booming in the public. Today, this expression became widely used, especially in the era of over-attachments to social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. So, what does esports have to do with this particular quote?

As you may have already guessed, most game publishers and developers in the esports world are trying to turn average players into esports enthusiasts. The esports audience will then be used as a “product” that can be sold to investors or sponsors. This statement may sound somewhat cynical on the surface. However, from the player’s perspective, we actually do not have to experience the “exploitative” nature of other monetization methods.

If you have read Ellavie’s article that discusses the different game industries of Japan, China, and South Korea, you may remember that the free-to-play model is actually a fairly old concept in the gaming industry. Nexon, a South Korean game publisher and developer, was the first to release a free-to-play game called QuizQuiz in 1999.

However, before today’s esports boom, monetizing free-to-play games can hinder the player’s in-game experience and, sometimes, make it severely irritating.

If you’ve been a gamer since the age of internet cafes, you might remember the infamous RF Online. If you play RF Online, you will eventually come across the Premium Service: a service you can activate by buying a voucher (with real money). Premium Service will give you the convenience of greater XP gains and more loot monsters.

RF Online, an RPG game that was popular in its time

Back then, this was one of the most common forms of monetization for free-to-play games. Indeed, RF Online can be played without needing to spend a single penny. However, your XP gain will be extremely slow, and getting good equipment is extremely difficult because your loot quality is underwhelming. Furthermore, the main attraction of RF online is its PVP element, which requires you to accumulate the highest possible level and obtain the best equipment to be able to compete with other players

Can players have super strong characters without Premium Service? Yes. However, you will need to spend more time and effort grinding the game rather than someone who simply used the Premium Service. These types of monetization systems place more priority on paid players and somewhat neglects free players, which is why I refer to them as being “exploitative”.

There is some debate about the fairness and ethics behind these systems. Fair or unfair, ethical or unethical, it is up to you to decide. In the end, RF Online is, surprisingly, still alive until this very day. Players who are still loyal to the game continue to buy the Premium Service and do not seem to have any problem with the monetization model. Back when I was in junior high school, I also played RF Online and even bought the Premium Service.

However, we can all agree that this system of income is incredibly limiting and somewhat risky for the game developers. What happens if all of the players suddenly stop buying the Premium Service?. Even worse, what if everyone stopped playing the game because they felt exploited by the Premium Service system?

Another system that is similar to RF Online’s Premium Service is the “speed up” feature in Clash of Clans (CoC). Although the two systems may look different, they inherently have the same principle: speed up the progression (character strength/troop creation/level up) for players who have in-game purchases.

During the height of its popularity, CoC had amassed tremendous income with this monetization model. According to statista, Clash of Clans had earned an income of $ 1.8 trillion USD in 2015. Unfortunately for Supercell, this figure continues to decline every year, reaching a low of $ 722 million USD in 2019.

The data is an illustration – if not evidence – of how this monetization system is not a sustainable income strategy. As I mentioned before, the system heavily depends on the player’s desire to speed up progress and buy micro-transactions. Once the game’s hype dies down, players will eventually stop playing, and the income source consequently disappears. We also briefly discussed the “pay-to-win” issue in free-to-play games if you want to know more about why monetization in this approach has its own problems.

Developers have used many ways of incentivizing players to keep staying in the system. They might use “subtle” methods, as seen in the Vox video below. If this method fails, they might use the “frontal” method, which is essentially slowing down the free players’ progress.

On the other hand, the presence of esports has indirectly opened up new business opportunities for game developers and can even extend the lifespan of their games. One of the reasons why this can happen is that esports games are usually very accessible.

As you have seen from the title, most games with successful esports scenes are free. Because the game is free-to-play, players can access the game as long as they meet the minimum specification required to run the game (which is usually much lower than paid premium games).

We can take VALORANT, released in 2020, as an example. VALORANT can be run with only an Intel HD GPU, which is built into the processor. FIFA 21, on the other hand, is a paid game that also requires an external GPU (adding to the total cost of the game) in the form of a GeForce GTX 660 and a Radeon HD 7850.

The two games have their respective esports scene. But which of the two are more popular? As you have probably guessed, it is VALORANT. Games with easy access (free-to-play and low hardware specification requirements) have more potential in attracting new players rather than games with difficult access (paid and high hardware specification requirements). As a result, VALORANT was able to accumulate up to 478 thousand viewers on Twitch, while FIFA 21 merely reached 82 thousand viewers, according to twitchtracker.com.

There are several steps in the monetization process of free-to-play games. Low specs and free games first attract new players (with little to no effort). These players slowly become viewers or enthusiasts through watching streamers or tips and tricks contents. Tournaments and leagues can then be presented to these viewers and commercialize them in the form of sponsorships, media licenses, or other investments from external parties.

Let us take Riot Games’ League of Legends as an illustration. If you frequently follow Hybrid’s news, you can see the abundance of deals Riot got in 2020 alone. Riot collaborated with many popular brands in various fields ranging from fashion such as Louis Vuitton, AAPE, tech companies like Cisco, to music brands such as Universal Studios and Spotify. These brands are willing to make a deal with Riot because it has the capability to ammas an audience of 44 million people during the 2019 LoL World Championship. Therefore, it is not surprising that Riot Games decided to make esports one of the pillars of their business rather than just a marketing tool.

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— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) September 1, 2020

Riot Games’ achievements are living proof that esports is a more sustainable and profitable monetization method for free-to-play game publishers.

Dota 2 can also be another example of a game that thrives from the presence of esports. Valve sells a Battle Pass (containing various skin and cosmetics) on a yearly basis and uses 25% of the sales to increase the prize pool of The International (TI). Valve raised US$40 million from The International Battle Pass last year. Keep in mind that this is only 25%. The remaining 75% of the Battle Pass sales are going directly to Valve’s pocket. You can imagine how much Valve is profiting from the esports monetization model alone.

Making games that are free-to-play, especially when it is integrated with a healthy esports ecosystem, has been proven to be an effective business model. Esports also provides a lot of commercialization potential by building the interest of external parties to invest in the game. It can also incentivize players to buy in-game content, like Dota 2’s Battle Pass, that will support their favorite team and the overall esports ecosystem.

Why Are Other Monetization Systems Less Successful In Building Esports Ecosystems?

I have previously discussed the factors behind the success of competitive esports games. If you have read that article, you will also find the ease of access to the particular game is key to its esports growth.

The price of the game and minimum spec requirements are the two elements that affect the accessibility of a game. In the end, the number of players in a game will always be determined by how high the entry barrier is set by the game developer/publisher. The lower the price and the device specifications, the greater the market potential the game can amass. Referring back to the VALORANT vs. FIFA 21 argument, VALORANT is superior in terms of player numbers since the game is free, while FIFA 21 costs IDR 849,000. VALORANT can also run without an external GPU, while FIFA 21 requires the use of an external GPU.

FIFA 21 also has esports tournaments, but its growth has been severely limited due to the less affordable prices of the game and the requirement of higher PC specs than free-to-play games.

With regards to the different approaches of game developers I mentioned earlier, we can take Nintendo as a case study. The Smash Bros community frequently complained to Nintendo due to the lack of financial support they receive in Smash tournaments. On one occasion, Nintendo even expresses its unwillingness to invest in esports.

Despite Super Smash Bros having a massive following of loyal fans, Nintendo still does not want to capitalize on the esports income strategy. This notion is especially true for developers who already had success using the pay model. After all, if Nintendo already generated significant revenue from the sales of Super Smash Bros alone, why would it bother to risk investing in an esports scene?

Shuntaro Furukawa, Nintendo’s president who previously expresses his standpoint about the Super Smash Bros esports scene. Source: Time

On the other hand, developers releasing free-to-play games (which obviously cannot rely on game sales) will need an alternative source of income. Selling skins can be one way of generating revenue, but it will most likely not cover the operating cost of the game. Developers can also use the aforementioned “exploitative” monetization methods. For example, Riot Games can make a champion unlockable on a certain level, which indirectly forces players to pay to level up faster. However, these types of monetization model has been shown to not be sustainable in the long-term.

Indeed, cultivating an esports ecosystem requires significant investment and is not always guaranteed to be profitable. However, when proper and careful steps are taken, we have seen how many developers thrive solely from their esports scenes. As Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent once said, “We no longer see esports as just marketing, but as a business.” Nicolo also added, “we want to make sure everybody has something to win.” From Nicolo’s statements, it is clear how esports has a wider economic impact compared to micro-transactions or the pay-to-win model.

Conclusion

From this discussion, we have explored why free-to-play games, when integrated with esports, can bring many income benefits for the game developers. Esports also have the potential to build players’ loyalty, extend the lifespan of a game, and bring commercialization interests from external parties

So, should all free-to-play games have an esports scene? Well, not exactly. After all, the game’s direction is solely dependent on the developer’s goals and focus. For example, Clash of Clans still managed to persist until today (although its popularity is declining) without the esports monetization model. Riot Games, a developer famous for its thriving esports scene, still prioritizes making high-quality games rather than focusing on esports.

I very much agree with Riot’s philosophy here. After all, esports is the product of a game. A high-quality, creative, and well-balanced game will naturally produce a competitive esports scene. Thus, developers should put more effort in perfecting their game and player experience, then an expansion to the esports scene will automatically follow.

The original article is written by Akbar Priono

The Success Story of Moonton and Mobile Legends in Indonesia

The recent acquisition of Moonton by Bytedance sparks the question about the company’s future and the fate of MLBB’s esports ecosystem. In this article, Aswin Atonie, Brand Manager of Moonton Indonesia, also shared his insights about the direction of the company’s development. Before all of that, however, let’s take a step back into the past and observe the path that Moonton took to reach its success.

Moonton’s Arduous Path in Raising Its Golden Child, Mobile Legends: Bang-Bang

According to Moonton Games’ official LinkedIn page, Shanghai Moonton Co., Ltd was founded in 2014 as a software company and, eventually, shifted its focus into game development. Moonton’s first game was called Magic Rush: Heroes, which has the generic gameplay collecting heroes through gacha.

A year after the release of Magic Rush: Heroes, Moonton released a new game we all know today as Mobile Legends. Back in 2016, the game was released under the name Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA, which got renamed to Mobile Legends: Bang Bang soon after.

Competitive mobile games (especially the MOBA genre) are still relatively new and underdeveloped in 2016, prompting many game developers to take the early opportunity to jump into the genre. For example, other than Mobile Legends, Vainglory was released by a new developer called Super Evil Megacorp. Gameloft, a well-established game development company, also created its own version of mobile MOBA called Heroes of Order and Chaos.

Unfortunately, Moonton’s journey in developing Mobile Legends had a rough start, facing a number of controversies in the early years.

In the early versions of Mobile Legends, the game was argued to appear unoriginal and copied ideas from other franchises. For example, back then, Alucard very much looked like Dante from the Devil May Cry series. Akai also appeared as a panda wearing pants and carrying an iron ball, which has a slight resemblance to Po from the Kung Fu Panda movie. Franco also arguably a direct copy of Pudge from Dota 2.

Interestingly, there were no complaints or lawsuits coming from the organizations that owned Dota 2, Kung Fu Panda, or Devil May Cry. However, one particular game developer, Riot Games, does have something to say about Moonton’s growing franchise.

Riot Games launched a lawsuit against Moonton in the central court of California, United States, on June 7, 2017. At that time, Riot Games accused Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA and Magic Rush of copying or mimicking League of Legends. In its court documents, Riot provided several screenshots that shows the similarity of the content between League of Legends and Moonton’s games. Here are some examples of the accused plagiarism, taken directly from the official court documents,

Some snippets of plagiarism allegations in Riot Games’ legal prosecution documents against Moonton in 2017. Apart from Mobile Legends, Riot Games also considers Magic Rush: Heroes to have copied League of Legends. Source: Dot Esports

Another excerpt from Riot Games’ prosecution documents towards Moonton. This time, Riot Games provides a comparison between LoL’s content and Mobile Legends’ content. Source: Dot Esports

According to the Dot Esports article published in 2018, Riot Games’ lawsuit ended in a forum non-conveniens. In these circumstances, the case is dismissed because the California court considers that another area of jurisdiction will be better suited to deal with the action. Since Moonton is based in China, the lawsuit will be adjudicated in the high court of China.

After Riot’s allegations, Moonton faced yet another lawsuit in 2018, which was filed by Tencent against Xu Zhenhua, one of Moonton’s representatives.

Dot Esports claimed that Xu Zhenhua was sued because he was deemed to have violated the non-disclosure (prohibition of submitting confidential information) and non-compete agreement (prohibition of moving to a rival company in the same field). The lawsuit initially ended with Xu Zhenhua being fined 2.6 million Yuan (approximately Rp. 5.5 billion). However, further speculation by Dot Esports’ internal source suggests that the fine got raised to about 19.4 million Yuan (approximately Rp. 42 billion).

Despite all the hard-fought trials and tribulations that Moonton went through to develop MLBB, it eventually rose over its problems and grew to the giant franchise we know of today. However, before discussing the reasons behind MLBB’s success, let’s take a look at the fate of Moonton’s other games.

Other Moonton Games That Did Not Have the Same Degree of Success as MLBB

As I mentioned earlier, Moonton has released other titles in the past. Besides Magic Rush: Heroes, Moonton created Mobile Legends: Adventure and Sweet Crossing: Snake.io.

Mobile Legends: Adventure can be considered to be more of a casual game. Similar to Magic Rush, the gameplay of ML: Adventure is an automated turn-based RPG and also applies the concept of gacha with hero collections. Sweet Crossing: Snake.io is also a game suited for casuals. It has very similar gameplay to Snake.io, which was popular among local streamers, but filled with cute animal characters.

However, these games never reached the same degree of popularity as Mobile Legends, perhaps due to the absence of an esports ecosystem. According to Google Play, Sweet Crossing, ML: Adventure, and Magic Rush, only had around 10 million installs at the time of writing this article. On the other hand, MLBB surpasses all of them by a mile, already reaching more than 100 million installs.

Sweet Crossing, one of the games made by Moonton that is very different from the previous games released by the company. Image Source – Google Play Store

The total downloads per month of the three games are actually quite decent. Using data from Sensor Tower, Sweet Crossing recorded a total of 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store worldwide in February 2021, while Mobile Legends: Adventure and Magic Rush: Heroes accumulated 400 thousand downloads and 20 thousand downloads, respectively. However, these figures are relatively insignificant when compared to MLBB, which has over 5 million worldwide downloads on the Google Play Store in February 2021.

MLBB is arguably already ingrained in the current Indonesian culture. Every day, there is always some news that is somewhat related to MLBB. These news include information about the game, such as new hero releases, Starlight, or the latest skins, to esports content, rumors, and gossip. Furthermore, a great deal of MLBB news is not released by Moonton itself, but rather by local content creators, media, pro players, and Moonton partners.

All the other three games released by Moonton do have some degree of success. After all, reaching 10 million downloads on Google Play Store is not at all an easy feat. However, MLBB is simply on another incomparable level when it comes to success, and the three games will never be able to compete with MLBB despite having decent social media followers. Why is this exactly?

In my opinion, esports is one of the biggest factors that come into play in this matter. Esports makes the discussion of the MLBB ecosystem much more interesting. Without esports, Mobile Legends’ news will only be filled with patch updates, hero releases, tips and tricks, skins, or Starlight membership.

But with the presence of esports, the Mobile Legends game has various engaging topics of discussion, ranging from rumors or gossip, pro player’s opinions (team rivalries, in-game meta), post-match interviews, and so on.

Furthermore, MLBB tournaments in Indonesia have a league format that is routinely held every week. As a result, new content and drama is constantly produced to spice up the ecosystem and the news surrounding MLBB.

The presence of esports brings a lot of content and attention to MLBB. There are also many MLBB tournaments watch parties that bring new conversations or opinions related to the game. Image Source – Nimo TV’s Facebook page

On the flip side, the other three games made by Moonton have a more casual and simple gameplay. As a result, there are rarely any competitive aspects or drive that can arise through these games.

Therefore, esports is perhaps the primary reason behind the MLBB’s rise to popularity in Indonesia. If you want to look more into the positive impacts that an esports ecosystem can bring to free-to-play games, you can read the following article.

The Mutualistic Relationship Between MLBB and the Indonesian Esports Ecosystem

MLBB and the Indonesian esports market have benefitted from each other’s existence, hence the mutualistic relationship. To understand why this is the case, we need to take a look at the development of the Indonesian esports ecosystem.

As I have previously stated, the presence of MLBB might have single-handedly resurrected Indonesian esports. One of these “revival” moments was greatly felt during MSC 2017 and MPL Season 1 in 2018, held in Taman Anggrek Mall.

These two tournaments succeeded in showing the huge potential of the gaming and esports market in Indonesia. As an illustration, normal esports events held at Taman Anggrek can usually fill the whole 1st-floor atrium of the mall. However, MSC 2017 and MPL Indonesia Season 1 were able to fill the whole mall with esports enthusiasts. People were watching from the floors above, and some even deliberately stayed in the elevator to watch the tournament. Amazing, isn’t it?

In October 2020, I also briefly discussed why Indonesia was able to overtake other regions and become superior in mobile game esports. According to the Esports Charts, MPL Indonesia was also able to beat several major international tournament in viewership numbers. In February 2021 alone, MPL Indonesia had more viewers than older esports leagues such as the Korean LCK LoL league or the biggest CS:GO tournament, IEM Katowice.

We can clearly see the impact that MLBB and Moonton have brought into Indonesian esports. Although sometimes ML is considered “only popular in Indonesia”, the Indonesian esports community has to inevitably thank Moonton for being the main catalyst of the ecosystem’s growth.

One of the effects of the growth of the Indonesian esports ecosystem is the increasing number of game developers investing in the local market. To my knowledge, there were almost no game developers directly investing in the Indonesian market before the MSC 2017 phenomenon.

However, proceeding the event, Tencent entered the Indonesian market in 2018 with PUBG Mobile. Several years later, in 2020, giants like Riot Games even penetrated directly into the local market through games like VALORANT and Wild Rift. In the case of Wild Rift, Indonesia (and other countries in SEA) even received a “special treatment” through the earlier access to the beta release compared to the Western and East Asian regions.

Moonton also gave way for the massive development of local Indonesian esports teams or organizations. Many local esports organizations, big or small, can grow and thrive thanks to MLBB. Indonesian esports teams are also able to compete and get achievements on the international stage. You can see this example in my discussion about RRQ Hoshi’s position as the most popular and successful MLBB team.

MLBB was also considered as an impetus of the largely growing RRQ’s fan base. | Source: ONE Esports

Earlier I mentioned that the relationship between Moonton’s MLBB and Indonesia’s esports scene is mutualistic, which suggests that Moonton also benefited greatly from its penetration into the Indonesian market.

Why is the Indonesian market very profitable for Moonton and MLBB? Why do Moonton and MLBB need Indonesia? Well, despite Moonton being based in China, MLBB surprisingly did not get released in China itself.

If you frequently follow Hybrid’s discussion about the development of the game industry, you will certainly understand the importance of the Chinese market. In short, China’s rapid development of gaming culture and technological advancements essentially acts as a gold mine for game developers. If you discover more about this topic, you can read the following discussion on Hybrid.co.id conducted by Ellavie.

To see why the Chinese market is considered incredibly lucrative by most developers, we need to take a look at some data. Sensor Tower had investigated mobile games with the most revenue throughout 2020 and found that PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings were the two top-ranking ones.

PUBG Mobile was released globally (including in China) and raised $2.6 billion USD. However, Honor of Kings, which was only released in China, managed to collect revenue of $2.5 billion USD. You read that right, a game released exclusively in China can almost beat an internationally published game when it comes to revenue. Therefore, you can clearly see the scale of profitability and income that the Chinese market can bring.

Because MLBB was not able to be released in China, Moonton had to find another country with a market that can bring the same level of profitability. Eventually, Moonton found Indonesia. We also interviewed Moonton about the story behind Moonton’s market penetration into Indonesia.

Moonton Indonesia, represented by Aswin Atonie as its Brand Manager, replied, “The penetration into the Indonesian market has been carefully meticulously planned for a long time. We did various research and analysis before concluding that Indonesia’s gaming industry is essentially an empty canvas that is vastly open for development.”

Aswin Atonie, Brand Manager for Moonton Indonesia. Image Source – ONE Esports

Aswin Atonie also revealed a little behind-the-scenes story of MSC 2017. “From our studies, we prepared our breakthrough into the market through MLBB South East Asia Cup (MSC 2017), which actually has been planned since the first launch of MLBB in 2016. As we have expected, the event bore fruit and received great interest from the Indonesian fans.”

Without a doubt, Moonton’s decision to penetrate the Indonesian esports market brought in tremendous success. Through another interview conducted by Hybrid’s editor, Aswin Atonie revealed that Mobile Legends accumulated 1 billion downloads with 100 million active users today. According to an article published by ONE Esports in 2019, 31 million of those active users were from Indonesia.

The mutualistic relationship between Moonton and the Indonesian ecosystem that still holds to this very day has brought them both to the spotlight. If MLBB did not emerge as a phenomenon in 2017, the Indonesian gaming and esports market could stagnate without any skyrocketing developments. Likewise with Moonton, if it failed to realize the potential of the Indonesian gaming market, it may not have achieved the same degree of success today.

Now, the last thing we need to discuss is Moonton’s future ahead. What path of development do you think Moonton will take in the upcoming years? Will it continue to survive and grow only through Mobile Legends? Or will Moonton try to improvise and create new games in new genres?

Bytedance Acquisition, New Games, and Moonton’s Future

With the Moonton’s recent acquisition by Bytedance, this sub-topic is probably the most interesting to discuss today. In terms of MLBB game development, we saw the positive improvements of MLBB through project NEXT. Various elements in the game are improved, old heroes are updated or revamped, and in-game visuals are also upgraded while maintaining the non-graphic-intensive nature of MLBB.

With regards to esports, we can see how the Mobile Legends Professional League continues to grow in Indonesia. There is an ever-growing number of viewers, the commercial side is also constantly improving, and the scene continues to develop the competitive perspective as well. From a business standpoint, we, of course, already knew about the recent buzz of the acquisition of Bytedance (TikTok’s parent company).

With all the achievements that Moonton has achieved at this point, what will be Moonton’s next step? The recent Moonton acquisition has also spawned even more questions.

Although Aswin Atonie did touch upon this topic in our interview, he was not allowed to comment on the changes that will occur after the Bytedance acquisition. Fortunately, he did give us some hints about the direction of Moonton’s future development. Firstly, he discussed the potential of creating a new game. We already knew that Moonton has released other games such as Mobile Legends: Adventure and Sweet Crossing. However, does Moonton have any plans to dive into other competitive genres such as Battle Royale, FPS, or Digital Card Games?

“We always want to be updated with the latest trends in the game industry, but currently our focus won’t be shifting from the MOBA genre. We strongly believe that there are still countless aspects that we can develop in MLBB.” Aswin explained

“In the development of MLBB, we still focus greatly on improving player experience through the implementation various features, in-game updates, and events that we regularly release such as 515 e-Party, Project NEXT, Winter Gala, and so on. Behind the scenes, however, we (Moonton) are also currently developing other games. Information related to this will, of course, only be shared when the game is considered ready.” Aswin continued, explaining Moonton’s next plan in terms of game development.

The next question that comes to mind is the idea of expanding the MLBB market and esports to other countries. As I have explained before, even though MLBB has grown and developed tremendously, the scope of the game is mostly limited in the Southeast Asian region.

“We certainly want to continue to expand the market, and we already have specific plans for each region. Currently, we have two designated teams each responsible for managing the Developed Area, such as Southeast Asia, and Developing Area, such as Europe, the United States, and East Asia.” Aswin answered.

Despite its expansions proposals, Moonton still intends to put much of its resources into the Indonesian ecosystem. “We want to keep developing the esports ecosystem in Indonesia by educating the public perspective when it comes to the negative stigma of gaming, as well as inspiring the younger generation to play with a purpose. I feel that, so far, MLBB has opened up so many job opportunities in the esports sector, such as being an esports athlete, gaming content creator, esports team management, event management, and so on.”

Before closing the discussion with Aswin, I also asked about the possibility of Moonton exploring the world of console games in the future. Aswin answered that “As a business player in the game industry, we believe that PC and console games will continue to develop in the future. But, of course, we still want to capitalize on the current expanding mobile era. Therefore, as of now, Moonton will only be focusing on developing MLBB into a mobile game that provides the best player experience.”

—

That wraps up Moonton’s Cinderella story who had a rocky start followed by a period of exponential growth which propelled it to success. Hopefully, Moonton’s journey can be an inspiration for all of you who are currently looking to invest and grow a business in the esports or gaming industry.

Featured Image – Moonton Epic Con 2019 (Source – Moonton Official). The original article is written by Akbar Priono

The Gloomy Days of Vainglory Esport: The Pioneer that’s Left Behind

In 2014, mobile gaming wasn’t really popular like today because of many factors, one of them was technology, and even mobile gamers were discriminated by other common gamers, not being considered as gamers as most of the games were casual without a depth of a story or magnificent graphics.

Yet it didn’t stop there, there was this terrific game developer working together from different backgrounds as a team established Super Evil Megacorp (SEMC). They created a game that no one could think of that time; a mobile game with stunning graphics like games on console or PC, a real-time play MOBA game named Vainglory.

On its released date, Vainglory attracted thousands of people in a blink. That could be imagined, as the old-time mobile games only gave us some slicing fruits and endless running experience when suddenly a competitive game launched on mobile.

Vainglory: The First MOBA on Mobile

To be honest, Vainglory was not really the first MOBA on mobile, since there was another game like Heroes of Order and Chaos developed by Gameloft. One thing I agree with SEMC, however, is that Vainglory is the first MOBA mobile game featuring a unique gameplay, intuitive controls, and deep mechanics enough to make competitive MOBA players filled with curiosity; or it can be said as the first most perfect MOBA in its day.

Vainglory was released in 2014, and its first appearance was on iPhone 6 Apple product presentation. The presentation without a doubt left smartphone users open-mouthed, as it was the first mobile game having 60 FPS, graphics with details, particle effects, and complex animation.

This game became the center of attention in no time at all, even one of the famous YouTubers played it as well. PewDiePie once played Vainglory and uploaded the video of his playing the game on August 1, 2015. Quoted from one of reputable technology media, VentureBeat, Vainglory successfully reached out 1.5 million monthly active players per July 1, 2015.

This success moved SEMC’s heart to take further steps, trying to follow League of Legends and Dota 2 success by developing Vainglory esports.

The First Mobile Esports in the World and Indonesia

After gaining success from its first released in 2014, Vainglory started to explore the esports world a year after; in Mei 2015 to be exact. They started collaborating with various esports world’s ecosystem at once, ESL and OGN Korea were the two of them.

Quoted from Fortune, Vainglory successfully drew as many as one million audiences through a local league competition in South Korea named Korean eSports League OGN Vainglory Invitational in July 2015.

More after that, an esports event named Vainglory Premiere League in September 2015 offered a total reward of US$80,000 and participated by 12 teams from four regions (North America, China, Korea, and Europe). It perpetuated Vainglory as the first and biggest mobile game esports of its time.

Vainglory itself began to be a hit in Indonesia in 2017, and it’s been known since Indonesia Games Championship 2017 and Vainglory 8 Summer Championship Jakarta. In the same year, Indonesia was just celebrated their Elite8 esport team that was managed to qualify for the international level of Vainglory 8 Spring Championship Manila. More to that, the biggest community gathering, Halcyon Gathering 2.0, was held in Indonesia in 2017 as well.

MOBA Mobile of East Asia and 5v5 Appearance

Still in 2017, Vainglory esports was on its most glorious day in Indonesia. Unfortunately, SEMC was somehow distracted from this China’s MOBA Mobile which successfully stole many of Indonesian gamers’ hearts. It was 2017 when Mobile Legends gained gamers’ and Indonesia esports industry’s attention.

The potential of Mobile Legends esports was first seen in the qualification and main event of Mobile Legends SEA Cup (MSC 2017), and it had made the venue full and packed; Gandaria City for the qualification and Mall Taman Anggrek for the Grand Final. Other than Mobile Legends, Garena Indonesia was also preparing something.

Garena wanted to release a global version of MOBA which had been a favorite of many people in China, Kings of Glory. It was finally released in Indonesia with a name of Mobile Arena and then changed its name to Arena of Valor in August 2017. Those games attracted the attention of many gamers because of its lower graphics on Indonesian’s smartphone, simpler gameplay, and easy to be learned by various range of groups.

Vainglory Worlds 2017, SEMC finally released Vainglory 5v5 which triggered controversy among communities. Some of them considered that 3v3 depended too much on individual skill making the game quite dull, while some others considered that 5v5 omitted main characteristic of Vainglory. Vainglory had to be faced with a dilemma because of that different opinions.

The Gloomy days of Vainglory esports in 2018

In 2018, MOBA Mobile and mobile esports were rising, but what about Vainglory? It’s funny how Vainglory esports was apparently dead both globally and in Indonesia.

Globally, Vainglory esports began to break down when many organizations withdrew. Teams like Gankstars, Cloud9, and TeamSoloMid even shut their Vainglory division. FlashX also spoke about this to respond to communities’ hysteria by saying that Super Evil Megacorp cut Vainglory esports’ budget, and it was the reason behind the problems.

How about Indonesia? Thanks to the third party’s support, fortunately, competitive arena of Indonesia’s Vainglory was still steady. Kaskus Battleground Season 1 filled in the Vainglory esports calendar in early 2018. In the mid-year and the end of the year, there was the Vainglory Premiere League Indonesia which was an esports league of Vainglory held online by AGe Network team, and the year was closed by Elite8 team’s endeavor at Asia level in WESG 2018 competition.

Herrboy (left) with 2 VG shoutcasters. Source: revivaltv.id

Herry ‘Herrboy’ Sudharma, as one of the shout casters and Vainglory esports actors in Indonesia, spoke up regarding the problems. He said that one of the biggest problems was the higher level of difficulty of Vainglory than other MOBA mobile, and the game required a higher smartphone specification as well. It made mobile gamers unwilling to play Vainglory which gave a domino effect to Vainglory esports.

Daniel ‘Deipno’ Lam, one of the Vainglory senior casters, also added that Vainglory was nearly dead in 2018 because SEMC seemed like taking a wrong step. Since 2017, the potential of Vainglory player base in Indonesia was clearly seen through Halcyon Gathering 2.0 which was attended by thousands of people. However, instead of putting the marketing focus in the SEA market, in Indonesia particularly, SEMC insisted to concentrate their Vainglory marketing in the United States and Europe.

In terms of players, Heinrich ‘OfficialHein’ Ramli, as an Indonesian Vainglory star player and one of the most commendable in developing Vainglory esports in Indonesia, said that it’s true that SEMC had a big role in the gloomy days of Vainglory esports. Hein, as an athlete of Vainglory and the owner of Elite8 team, said that SEMC didn’t really communicate well with the team and community, which then made Vainglory esports in Indonesia disregarded.

Vainglory Cross-platform and its Esports Future Prediction

The glory day of Vainglory was there because SEMC pushed the smartphone capability to the maximum, creating a console or PC class game that could be played in your hand. In the end of 2018, SEMC tried to recite the innovation by creating a campaign of Vainglory X, the first MOBA cross-platform that would be able to bring players from mobile, PC, or console together in a match.

On VentureBeat, CEO of SEMC Kristian Segerstrale said that multi-platform games were the future of gaming. However, it indeed brought big questions and doubts because Vainglory’s appearance on PC meant that they’d be brought to the more difficult business competition: challenging the two giants of MOBA PC, Dota 2 and League of Legends.

Herrboy once again spoke about a cross-platform prediction and the return of Vainglory’s glory in 2019 both in player base and esports. He thought that it depended on SEMC’s decision, whether they would like to raise Vainglory esports once again or not. Given that Fortnite has used this cross-platform system successfully, they successfully created a huge player base even without international esports event.

Do SEMC capable to repeat the victory in Vainglory Worlds 2017 that breaks the record of Twitch spectators. Source: redbull.com

All in all, what SEMC would like to achieve was for Vainglory to be played by many people again. Regarding this matter, I, to be honest, am pessimistic. Why? Because first, Vainglory’s very presence on PC would make SEMC have to face the notable MOBA games themselves and the competition would be more difficult.

Second, I quite agree with the community’s opinion and what Deipno said that all this time, SEMC seemed not really showing determination in selling Vainglory, especially in Asian and SEA market. If they insisted to use cross-platform system without running an active marketing activity, then the number of Vainglory players wouldn’t have much changes.

What about esports? Seeing SEMC focusing more on the development of cross-platform, I’m not really sure that Vainglory esports would happen in 2019. Because even if the campaign of Vainglory cross-platform successfully increased a number of players, there wouldn’t be any hope to once again witness the thrill of action of the first-class Vainglory players if SEMC didn’t want to hold an esports.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian.

Learning about Differences, Fighting Spirit, and Limitations from A Disabled Gamer

His face was beaming while waving his hand beneath his chin when my video call was connected with Angga. With his mother that was devoted to stay beside him in a small modest room, Angga did not limp even though he was on a wheelchair.

The conversation between us three was different with the most video call. Angga typed the answers via WhatsApp for the questions I asked through video call because he is also a mute. Angga’s mother, Nurhikmah, sometimes translate Angga’s sighs so it was easier to understand.

The Story of Angga Tribuana Putra

Angga with his mother. Source: Angga Zerotoshine

Angga Tribuana Putra is his complete name. He could not speak nor could his legs move. “The doctor said that I have acute polio. So, my spinal nerve is pinched and my voice cord does not work. If I don’t drool, my head grows big,” said Angga. Angga’s mother added that only the fingers on his right hands that could move.

The gamer that likes Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) and Clash Royale explains that he likes to play game because he could get spirit, aside from happiness. For him, game is not just a hobby. He sees game as a medium to achieve something. For Angga, esports is one of the things that could make him face the world with a smile. The thing is, in esports he could develop his talent, use his brain, and exercise his hands.

Angga likes PES because in his opinion that game is the most realistic one. He admitted that he was undergoing a license for PSSI training. Because of that thing he always plays PES because he believes that the strategy in PES can be applied as well in football. “I knew football from PES. I play not to win but to fathom the tactics,” said Angga who wants to be a football coach.

For those of his disabled friends Angga asked them to fight against the emotional conflict and stopped asking about the justice of God. For him, people with disability are phenomenal humans that must be able to show the world that they have outstanding class and abilities.

I also managed to talk with the mother through WhatsApp to find out more about Angga’s daily life. On daily basis, Angga always got help from his mother because of his limitations. However, his mother is still grateful because she thinks that Angga possesses a lot of abilities.

His mother says that Angga can use PS3 or PC without any help. To this day, Angga does not go to school. His mother said that there are two reasons for that, one is that they don’t have enough money and that Angga does not want to go to school. “He said, I don’t have to go to school, Mom. I can do it myself,” said his mother copying Angga.

His mother never expected that Angga can learn to read or use computer by himself. She also said that a lot of people who mocked Angga and degrade him. Even according to his mother, she is the only one who supports him from the family’s side.

His mother hopes that Angga can always be passionate and fight for his dreams and ambition even though he always been underestimated and considered as hallucinating. “I’m relieved. Insya Allah Angga can make me proud. Angga doesn’t want to see mum being sad all the time,” said Nurhikmah copying Angga once more.

That was a piece of story about Angga and his mother, Nurhikmah, about each of their own struggles. Of course it’s a bit inconsiderate to condense one life story in one writings, even a thousand pages. But, I personally believe there are two important things that we can learn from the struggles of Angga and his mother.

Gamer Community Should Be an Inclusive Community

From Angga’s story, game is one activity that can make him passionate to go through life. Game could give him challenges without seeing the limitation of physical aspects. Esports can give him a sense of achievement that maybe unable to present in another area.

Actually, other areas that are more traditional such as art (music, painting, et cetera) can also give challenges and new goals without seeing physical limitations. However game and esports now can become a new life goal for everyone, without exceptions.

Unfortunately the social network that is very dominant in our daily life as a modern society often sharpen the differences, including in the gamer community.

The fact is, the debate between which MOBA is better, which games that is more valid to be included in sports events such as SEA Games or ASIAN Games, which gaming platform that is more ideal, and any other kinds of debate that do not give positive impact for the development of Indonesian game or esports industry; at least if the debate is limited to the foolishness that often happen in the cyberspace now.

I’ve been included in the gaming industry for 10 years and I got new friends, fellow gamers from different social, culture, economic background. For me, this is how a gamer community should be: a community that does not discriminate about religion, political views, economic class, cultural background, sex, even physical limitations.

Agreed or not, for me true gamers are those who are open to every kind of differences. Why? Because the fact is, game is a culmination between the meeting point of art and technology that is considered to be too distinct for traditional people.

A True Gamer Does Not Easily Complain and Never Stops Fighting

The reality is, there are a lot of people who think that they are the most miserable ones in this world. Often, us humans tend to see limitations and unfortunate aspects of each of our own lives easier.

I personally believed that a true gamer is supposed to be like Angga. With all his limitations, he never stopped fighting. He does not want to give up and blame the fate. Aside from Angga, I think we can learn about the diligence and perseverance from his mother because she always tries to provide the best for Angga.

Apart from the fact if Angga can reach his dreams or not later, I think we can think about that some other time. The more important thing here, for me, is how we don’t use our limitations to stop fighting. The fact is, true gamers should be the ones who are attracted to find new or hard challenges.

No matter if it’s single player or multi player, we enjoy the process of playing games because there are challenges and goals that we want to finish—except if you are playing Pou or My Little Pony on Android or iOS (which means that you enter the wrong website).

Finally, there is nothing wrong if we reflect from Angga and his mother. There is a big chance that we are luckier than Angga because our limitations are mostly about social and economic order (it’s also not that as bad as what you imagine if you still have access to internet). So, be grateful and keep fighting…

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian.