ONE Championship subsidiary ONE Esports has announced its inaugural Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Invitational, which will take place from May 2, 2020 to July 5, 2020. Top players and teams from all over the world will compete for a total prize pool of US$150,000.

MLBB is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game for mobile phones and tablets. The game launched in mid-2016 for Android and iOS and is the most popular mobile MOBA game in the world outside of China with over 500 million installs and 80 million monthly active users.

A MOBA played in Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, Middle East and India, MLBB has reached 139 countries and regions and has been localized in 25 languages and operates on over 1,200 servers to ensure the game runs smoothly. It is also the first title announced as a medal game at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games’ inaugural esports event.

The ONE Esports Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Invitational will bring together the world’s best MLBB players and teams. It will be the first of two Mobile Legends: Bang Bang competition series promoted jointly with MLBB developer Moonton and the competitions will develop the best MLBB teams, share and celebrate the stories of esports heroes and inspire MLBB fans all around the world.

Country online qualifiers will be held from May 2-17, 2020 and the main event will take place from July 1-5, 2020. Here is the schedule:

More information on the event can be found at the ONE Esports website. Here are the prizes:

“ONE Esports is proud to partner with Moonton to deliver the ONE Esports Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Invitational Series,” ONE Esports CEO Carlos Alimurung stated. “Southeast Asia is at the vanguard of mobile esports, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has nurtured and grown one of the healthiest esports communities in the world. We will not only provide the community with opportunities to compete against the best Mobile Legends: Bang Bang teams but also execute a world-class competition series that engages and wows esports fans.”

“Over at Moonton, we are really excited about this collaboration with ONE Esports,” Moonton director of operations Lucas Mao said. “Their track record in producing story-driven sports production gives us the confidence to go into a longer collaboration where we will feature not one but two regional invitational tournaments in 2020. We wholly believe that this partnership with ONE Esports will further expedite our long term goal of building a sustainable and dynamic esports ecosystem.”