The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Mid Season Cup, held as part of MLBB Esports World Cup tournaments, has already peaked at almost 1.9 million viewers.
Incredibly popular in South-East Asia, MLBB regularly attracts extremely high viewership figures. Its global popularity has made the Mid Season Cup one of the most popular tournaments at the Esports World Cup, outshining esports such as Valorant and League of Legends.
If MLBB is so big, why do Western countries often not hear about it?
MLBB boasts one of the world’s largest esports scenes, yet it remains underrepresented in the UK esports scene, rarely being advertised or discussed.
The 2016 mobile MOBA was published in China and has 45-75 million monthly active users.
The primary reason for this is that MLBB is incredibly popular in South-East Asia, but has not hit particularly high engagement in North America and Europe. Only one professional MLBB player from the United Kingdom has won MLBB prize money, according to Esports Earnings.
In contrast, players from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia have won millions. The Philippines has the highest player representation at the MLBB Esports World Cup tournament, making them favourites on esports betting sites to take the title.
MLBB Esports World Cup overshadows other esports EWC tournaments
With several days of the Mid Season Cup remaining, MLBB Esports World Cup viewership figures have already hit 1,898,116 according to Esports Charts.
In stark contrast, viewership figures for other Esports World Cup-featured major esports scenes reported surprisingly low statistics.
Valorant at the Esports World Cup faced particularly low viewership as many fans chose to boycott the main broadcast in favour of watch parties. Protest against Saudi Arabian sportswashing is the primary trigger for these movements away from supporting the event.
League of Legends viewership also fell far below usual standards, attracting a peak of 1,203,155 viewers compared to the 3,448,272 peak viewership of the Mid-Season Invitational only a week prior.
However, some esports scenes have broken their all-time viewership records at the Esports World Cup.
The Honour of Kings 2025 World Cup, hosted at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, became the game’s most watched tournament of all time with 653,309 peak viewers. Chinese players and viewers dominate in Honour of Kings. Other regions tend to fall to the wayside.
Even the EWC x MLBB Women’s Invitational attracted 467,988 peak viewers, placing it ahead of the official Valorant Esports World Cup tournament in the viewership rankings.
MLBB Esports World Cup viewership is certainly thriving, and it is unlikely that any other esport will reach the same heights in Riyadh.
Hannah is a writer specialising in the esports, gaming, and technology sectors. Working for outlets such as Dot Esports, Esports Insider, and of course ENUK, she has developed a love for wider esports and Apex Legends, although it may never surpass her drive to passionately beat her friends in every game of Mariokart. You may have seen her at various esports and gaming events, including ESI London, EGX, Discover: Esports and many League of Legends watch parties.