- Simon Lim, the CEO of Selangor Red Giants shared some interesting insights behind his team’s fortunes.
- He drew parallels from traditional sports and laid emphasis on structure as the key to become successful in esports.
- Despite his team’s recent victories, Simon sees the future of the esports ecosystem in Malaysia as uncertain.
The ongoing stage of the Mobile Legends M6 World Championship has brought several events and opportunities. One of them is the MSummit Kuala Lumpur where we met several esports professionals and the persons behind this new form of entertainment. We had a chat with Simon Lim, CEO of Selangor Red Giants Esports Division, who shared his insights about the overlaps between a traditional sports club and its esports wing along with putting light on how the Malaysian team is innovating the whole mobile MLBB esports scene.
The visionary man behind the rise of the Malaysian esports revolution shared deep insights and the teams’ approach to esports. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has been very popular in Malaysia and the country won one of the biggest MLBB events with the hands of the team.
Please note that the interview has been edited for clarity.
Lessons learned from traditional sports are the structure of a successful esports team
We asked Selangor Red Giants about lessons they learned from the traditional sports they’re engaged in. We wanted to know the key lessons or principles that adapted from traditional sports to build a successful esports division.
Simon Lim said, “Number one is the structure. It is the most important. It builds your foundation as a team in esports. It is the main key to success. So, I highly emphasize building a structure. And the management is also important. The management of players, coaches, and officials.”
And while esports is growing rapidly, we asked to know the definition of success and how the organization measures it. The team won the MSC 2024, the biggest achievement so far. So, we wanted to know what success is from the teams’ perspective. Simon answered a bit differently and said that primarily checking the investment in esports and marketing was the previous measurement. As the scenario has changed a lot now, it depends on the success the team is getting in major events.
Selangor FC being a popular football club in Malaysia, we wanted to explore how the teams perceive the relationship between esports and traditional sports. With esports now firmly established as a form of entertainment, we were eager to hear their perspectives on online-focused competition.
“You know traditional esports requires physical ability. You cannot go soft in traditional sports like Football. But in esports, we don’t need physical fitness here. So, we treat them differently. We motivate them, we have our esports psychologists. He manages and mentors them all the time,” he replied.
The overall esports ecosystem in Malaysia is still weak and needs big brands to invest
And being the only team in M6 top 4 from Malaysia, we asked Simon for his view on the current ecosystem for the overall esports including MLBB in Malaysia. He told us there are a lot of gaps which he addressed as “weak”. He said that the foundation and structure are not there. “Also, our ecosystem failed to attract big brands. But we need them so that we can grow. If there’s no money coming in, it’s uncertain,” said the man behind Selangor.
He also shared the role that SRG played in changing the ecosystem in Malaysia. He said, “I’m not saying SRG is very strong. But since we won the MSC 2024, we created a revolution. The big brands now know us. The young ones are motivated, and so do their parents. They are now seeing this as a very positive change, which brings a major change in the esports ecosystem.“
As the Malaysian esports scene is growing, Simon also shared the innovative approaches they’re exploring to further professionalize esports in Malaysia and beyond. He seemed very confident and positive here. “Definitely esports science. It’s very very important. It is a calculative measurement and practice. It really helps so you can have sports psychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists, etc. All these things can be implemented in esports which is very important,” he further added.
Simon also told us that he hopes all the esports teams will take these things seriously and will not only stick to hiring players and participate. He said the management needs to focus on these associated things so that players can stay afresh.
SRG won the “Best Mobile Esports Team of the Year” in the GamingonPhone Awards 2024. We asked about the factors that he thinks are liable for this achievement. “We’re underdogs, and we were a small team. We rose from nobody, we received the fans’ support in a short span of time. I think the fans were supporting and sharing your links for us to win this award. This is our first ever international award and this is for the fans.“
As the team will continue to grow and throw big fights at the others, we hope that people like Simon can make a difference in the overall mobile esports system.
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