I’m just a regular Mobile Legends: Bang Bang player, so I don’t usually sit around dissecting industry award shows. But the 2024 GamingonPhone Awards? That one made me sit up. On 6 December 2024, MOONTON Games walked away with a serious haul: MLBB took Mobile Esports Game of the Year, Selangor Red Giants won Mobile Esports Team of the Year, and MOONTON’s PR team earned Best PR/Marketing Team. Honestly, that’s a clean sweep of the categories that matter to a player like me. The annual awards cover 30 categories, so winning three is not just a pat on the back. It’s a signal.

Let’s be real: MLBB has been around long enough that some people might take its success for granted. The award citation pointed to exceptional competitive gameplay, community engagement, and impact on the esports scene. As someone who has queued up more matches than I care to admit, I get it. The game keeps flexing. It recently hit 1.5 billion registered players, which is a number so big it almost stops sounding real. And this was the third time MLBB won this particular honor, after taking Esports Game of the Year in 2021 and 2023. That’s not a hot streak anymore. That’s a pattern.

The viewership numbers back it up. According to Esports Charts, MLBB recorded 530 million hours watched in 2023 and a peak concurrent viewership of 5 million. For mobile esports, that is enormous. The flagship M6 World Championship was ongoing in Malaysia at the time, and the whole scene felt like it was vibrating. I remember watching clips and thinking, yep, this is why people camp on their phones at lunch. Mobile esports is not a side quest anymore. It is the main quest.

Award	Winner	What it recognized
Mobile Esports Game of the Year	Mobile Legends: Bang Bang	Competitive gameplay, community engagement, and esports impact
Mobile Esports Team of the Year	Selangor Red Giants	Exceptional achievements and contributions in 2024
Best PR/Marketing Team	MOONTON Games PR Team	Creativity, strategy, and brand impact

Then there’s Selangor Red Giants. This Malaysian team beat Fnatic ONIC Philippines for Mobile Esports Team of the Year, and I loved that storyline. SRG won the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, back in July. That was Malaysia’s first time taking top honors at a major MLBB esports tournament. They also won Seasons 13 and 14 of MPL Malaysia and were on course for the Golden Road at the M6 World Championship. As a player, I live for those runs. You can feel the momentum through the screen. It’s the kind of thing that makes you boot up the game and think, maybe I can pull off one clean teamfight today. Just one. Please.

MOONTON’s PR and marketing team also got its flowers. The award recognized exceptional creativity, strategy, and impact in elevating a brand or campaign in 2024. I know, I know, marketing is not usually the part players cheer for. But the way MLBB stays in the conversation? That does not happen by accident. Ray Ng, Head of Esports Ecosystem at MOONTON Games, framed the third Esports Game of the Year win as recognition of the team’s commitment to great esports experiences for fans. He also pointed to the broader ecosystem work, including MLBB’s inclusion among the medal events and as the only mobile esports title at the Southeast Asian Games 2025, with MLBB also holding a tournament for women. From my 2026 seat, that 2025 milestone is now part of the rear-view mirror, but the intent behind it still matters. It showed where mobile esports was heading.

The nominations rounded out the night nicely. MLBB was nominated for Mobile Game Community of the Year and Mobile Game Update of the Year, while Sam Slade, the voice artist behind Zhuxin, was a finalist for Best Voice Acting in Mobile Game. That mix says a lot. A game can have huge tournaments, but it also needs a community, updates, and characters that feel alive. Zhuxin’s voice work getting a nod is a small detail, but it is the kind of detail that makes the world feel bigger. I’m here for it.

So what does this mean for me as a player in 2026? It means the 2024 awards night was not just a trophy case moment. It was a checkpoint. MLBB had already proven it could draw players and viewers. The GamingonPhone Awards added outside recognition from the mobile gaming industry. For fans, that is nice. For the ecosystem, it is fuel. Teams get noticed. Casters get noticed. Even the folks behind the scenes get noticed. And yeah, the players get another reason to argue about who deserves the next trophy. That’s the real trophy, right? The arguments, the clips, the late-night ranked grinds, the community that keeps showing up. I’ll take that over a shiny statue any day. Well, maybe not any day. But most days.