Mobile Legends: Bang Bang became an instant hit soon after was published in 2016 by its developers, Moonton, which is a subsidiary of ByteDance.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game. It is published and developed by Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance. Mobile Legends was first released in 2016, and it was an instant hit in Southeast Asia.
Moonton is a MOBA mobile creator and developer. It was founded in 2014 under the leadership of Justin Yuan. The company is currently based in Shanghai, China. Even though Moonton is still a very young enterprise, it has achieved various achievements for creating Mobile Legends.
The game has been downloaded over 100 million times on Google Play. It is important to note that this figure does not include the App Store and other digital distribution. Mobile Legends continues to strive due to the fact that Moonton presents regular updates to the game.
The updates consist of new heroes, game macros and efforts to develop the graphics and visuals of the game. The regular updates by Moonton are supported by the enterprise’s motto: “Do what you say.” In addition to updates, Moonton regularly hosts tournaments.
The amount of interest from gamers, as well as the support of sponsors, enabled Moonton to successfully host the 2017 Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup tournament. It was the first-ever mobile game tournament and players had the opportunity to win cash prizes.
The tournament was so successful that Moonton hosted another tournament in 2018. The first professional Mobile Legends league was hosted in Indonesia. It is known as the Mobile Legends Professional League and is still hosted every year.
Despite its success, Moonton was involved in a lawsuit. In July 2018, Tencent, on behalf of Riot Games, won a lawsuit against Moonton’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Watson Xu Zhenhua. Watson violated a law regarding ‘Non-Compete Agreements’ along with Mobile Legends’ plagiarism of League of Legends. Tencent was awarded with a settlement of $2.9 million.
In Mobile Legends, players get to choose a hero to fight in a match. The two opposing teams then fight to reach and destroy the enemy’s base; however, they should also defend their own base. Players use three ‘lanes’ known as top, middle and bottom to reach the opposing team’s base.
Weaker computer-controlled characters, known as minions, spawn at team bases. The minions follow the three lanes to the opposite team’s base while fighting enemies and turrets. The fight continues until one team has destroyed the opposing team’s base.