MOONTON has officially confirmed that the MPL-PH would move into a franchise league model beginning Season 8, which will kick off on August 13 and end on October 3.
With its implementation comes an ecosystem where each stakeholder — specifically, the league, the teams/players, related participants (e.g. casters and production members), and the community — will benefit each other, said the Mobile Legends developer.
“The MPL Philippine franchise league is basically an ecosystem with all stakeholders working hand in hand to achieve the common goals and to be able to serve the community,” explained Matt Jaron, MPL-PH head of business development.
With the game’s astonishing ascension (boasting 1.4 million peak concurrent users, 33 million total hours watched, and 200,000 average concurrent users) during MPL-PH season 7, Moonton decided to capitalize on this opportunity.
“Philippines is really one of the important countries that Moonton has been supporting not just regionally but globally as well, and doing a franchise model will really need a lot of resources, a lot of money from our end," continued Jaron.
He added, "By Moonton doing this, they are really showing how dedicated and how committed they are in the Philippine market.”
Why move into an MPL-PH franchise model
Moonton projects almost P400 million in revenue over the next three years for MPL, with the eight franchises taking a share of league earnings under the newly unveiled business model.
“We did internal calculations as well. As you can see on the screen, we put P400 million. That's basically the total revenue that will be shared amongst the franchises over the next three years, based on our internal calculation.”
These revenues would be crucial in sustaining the league. However, there will be other factors as well, which included in-game purchases and sponsorship deals.
Players are now assured of a minimum guaranteed salary, as well as more concrete guidelines governing their behavior.
"With a constant growth of esports and MPL in the Philippines, we're hoping that our players will have a more secure path through this ecosystem. We have implemented a lot of things like a code of conduct and minimum wage salary for our players so that they will be able to have that secure career in the MPL," Jaron explained.
The eight franchises in the league for Season 8 include Blacklist International, Bren Esports, Onic PH, and Smart Omega. New or rebranded entrants are Echo (formerly Aura PH), Nexplay EVOS (formerly Nexplay), RSG PH, and TNC Pro Team (formerly Work Auster Force).
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