- Team Secret’s CEO has spoken about why the organization doesn’t have an MLBB team
- He revealed that the game doesn’t have the global appeal Team Secret likes to see
- The CEO added that the organization might change its stance in the future
Team Secret will not be fielding a Mobile Legends: Bang Bang roster anytime soon but may one day change its opinion, CEO John Yao said.
MLBB Doesn’t Have a Global Appeal
Team Secret has explained why it is yet to field a Mobile Legends: Bang Bang roster. The reveal came from the organization’s chief executive officer, John Yao, in an interview with Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia.
Yao summarized Team Secret’s reason for not joining the MLBB scene by saying “For us, it just doesn’t make sense at this time.” He elaborated that he acknowledges the game’s popularity in the SEA region but that’s exactly why Team Secret is still reluctant to hop in.
According to Yao, the organization seeks to establish a global audience instead of a local one. He said that he prefers reaching a wider audience even at the cost of a lower peak viewership. Yao gave PUBG Mobile as a great example of the kind of global approval Team Secret seeks in a game.
“The world championship has been in Dubai, it’s been in Southeast Asia, like, they move tournaments across different regions in the world. There are teams from all over that are participating,” he explained.
MLBB is yet to receive global recognition. First of all, in the West, the MLBB audience is not as high as in the SEA region. Second, the game has been wrapped in controversy since a lawsuit by Riot a few years ago where the latter company claimed MLBB has infringed its intellectual property.
Yao Said that He May Change His Opinion in the Future
Yao added another reason for Team Secret not joining MLBB, explaining that some games aren’t as fun to watch as they are to play and vice versa – some games aren’t as fun to play as they are to watch. When Team Secret chooses a game to field a team in, it always seeks titles that have an optimal balance between being exciting to play and being engaging to the audience.
Yao refuted the popular claims that Team Secret is staying away from MLBB because of his personal grievances with Moonton, the company behind the game. He said that there has never been an antagonism between his organization and MLBB’s developers. The CEO even added that Team Secret may sign an MLBB team one day.
“It doesn’t mean we will never get into it. It just means that for right now, it’s not a good fit for what we want to do.”
Despite lacking the same global popularity as League of Legends and Wild Rift, Mobile Legends Bang Bang is a quickly growing title that has been attracting many esports players with a passion for MOBA games. Perhaps this growth may one day convince Team Secret to get add the game to its list.
