RSG, an esports organization based out of Singapore, have adopted early-stage initiatives to develop professional esports teams and talent in Southeast Asia, including for video games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), PUBG: Mobile, and Call of Duty: Mobile.
Last July, RSG announced they would expand their presence in the Philippines with a homegrown MLBB team.
The team includes experienced and emerging players who will make their debut as a team during the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Season 8 in the Philippines, which was scheduled to start on August 13 but was postponed due to the implementation of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Reigning as captain is Kenneth Jiane “Kenji” Villa, who will train coach Brian “Panda” Lim. Lim helped earn Sibol, the Filipino national esports team, win gold during the 30th Southeast Asia Games on MLBB against Indonesia in 2019.
Other team players include Elyson Edouard “GHOST Wrecker” Caranza - one of the country’s most prolific streamers and content creators with 5.4 million followers on Facebook.
RSG’s team line-up will also comprise of:
- Arvie “Aqua” Calderon
- Dexter “Exort” Martinez
- Earvin John “Heath” Esperanza
- Eman “Emann” Sangco
- Joshwell Christian “Iy4knu” Manaog
- Jonard Cedrix “Demonkite” Caranto
- Nathanael “Nathzz” Estrologo
MLP Season 8 will have a prize pool of $150,000 with a new date is still tentative. However, 2021 marks the first year of MLP’s franchise model, hoping to make large strides at esports development in the Philippines. This includes the implementation of a standardized team management system and full protection of players’ rights and interest.
For the eight teams under the new franchise league, Mobile Legends developer Moonton projects P400 million worth of revenue will be shared among its team over the next three years - the breakdown of which will largely depend on team performance and ranking, among other factors.
Find out more at RSG’s official website. Follow MPL PH on their Facebook, YouTube and TikTok channels for more updates.