MOONTON Games’ Fikri Rizal on Engaging Brands and Governments for MLBB Esports Success

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang currently has one of the most virbarnt esports ecosystem in the mobile games scene. With the M6 World Championship recently concluded, the team is already gearing up for its 2025 plans with one more title, Magic Chess: Go Go, alongside MLBB. To experience the grand event in Malaysia, we were invited by MOONTON Games, and during our trip, we interviewed Fikri Rizal Mahruddin, MOONTON’s Marketing and Business Development Lead in Malaysia, on engaging brands and governments for MLBB esports success.

Please note that the interview has been edited for clarity.

In our interview with Fikri Rizal, the very first thing asked was how MOONTON Games fostered partnerships to grow MLBB Esports in Malaysia. Mr Fikri said, “For us, the partnership worked very uniquely and differently. We don’t work with endemic brands, we try to work with non-endemic brands. You know, working with the same brand for a long time for our esports ecosystem will make you lose the other audiences. It means you’re not reaching them.“

“And we do treat our collaborated brands as our partners, not sponsors. MLBB esports is very unique. So when we work with brands, we understand their objective first and then work on reaching their objectives,” he added.

Working with several agencies and having dynamic backgrounds is a key pillar of MOONTON’s vast market

It was a delight to know how MOONTON thinks and treats brands as partners, not sponsors. So, we asked a follow-up question on it. We wanted to know the strategies that are employed to engage corporate partners in Malaysia for the M6 World Championship.

“Part of the strategies are working with a lot of agencies, it is number one. The people who work at MOONTON are the people who are used to working in media, software companies, etc. So, not all of us are from the same background, we have different backgrounds here.“

This difference in background and experience helps the team to build a better understanding and connection among them. “We work with media and advertising agencies to help us pitch the MLBB esports and M6 to all the brands available,” he added.

“The second thing is working with the government bodies as well. The government helps us to get introduced to some of our brands and partners,” Mr Fikri further said.

Providing value for the partners is a core concern, a win-win for everyone

We also wanted to know how these partners and sponsors derive value from their involvement in high-profile events like M6. We asked it to know the reasons behind the partners working with MOONTON and how they leverage these partnerships.

“I already told you that we don’t treat them as sponsors, we treat them as partners. We choose the brands like Hotlink to elevate the experience instead of doing normal on-ground things. This is based on the data and advice from our partners.” And from our perspective, we think this is one of the major reasons behind the brands’ success in collaboration and partnership.

Over the past few years, the esports and gaming industry has undergone significant changes. Fortunately, MLBB Esports has continued to thrive, marked by several surprising and successful partnerships. With this in mind, we couldn’t resist asking Mr. Fikri how MLBB esports’ business model is adapting to the evolving expectations of consumers and sponsors, both in Malaysia and on a global scale.

He answered promptly and said innovation is the key here. We don’t want to remain the same (with a focus). We want to keep on innovating and we do want to keep improving. “I think there are two parts there. The B2C level is our priority. We continuously demand feedback from our community and players. And for B2B, we have a proper reporting session for all our partners. We want them to ask us where should we improve more and what we can do next,” Mr Fikri answered with much confidence.

With the 2025 roadmap already unveiled, MOONTON Games is clearly setting its sights high for the year ahead. A new esports title, refreshed branding, and much more – 2025 is shaping up to be an exciting year. We can’t wait to see how the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang brand continues to evolve and captivate its fans!

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