MLBB Philippine Collegiate Championship set for August

A national champion for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang among collegiate teams will be crowned soon as the Philippine Collegiate Championships will be held in August.

The announcement was made on May 15 by Collegiate Center for Esports chairman Stanley Lao, president Waiyip Chong, chairman emeritus Peter Cayco, and general manager Jay Recto, together with Playdex co-founder Daniel Laborada; Jose Chua Jr., Xiaomi marketing officer; Benjamin Afuang, Quezon City sports head; and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) sports development head Ana Dulce Yango.

For Lao, the tournament will serve as an avenue to help players and guide them through Esports.

“The goal has always been to find an avenue for these young players to help them with what they want to do and guide them in the right direction through esports,” Lao said.

“Ang esports ay sports, hindi lang siya laro. Meron tayong mga professional basketball players, meron din tayong mga professional Esports players. Nanalo na nga tayo sa SEA Games eh. Now, andito ang CCE para sumuporta sa inyong lahat.”

(Esports is sports, not just playing. Just like how we have professional basketball players, we also have professional esports players. We've even won in the SEA Games. Now, CCE is here to support all the players.")

The tournament, which will be powered by the CCE, will have 2,000 participating schools in the first stage of the tournament and the top four teams from the National Capital Region, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao will make the top 16 of the national tournament. From there, the teams will be divided into four groups and will play a round robin before the best two teams of each group advance to the next round. All matchups from that point on will be played at the Amoranto Arena in Quezon City in a best-of-three series, while the finals will have a best-of-five format.

Aside from the games, CCE will also conduct a Masterclass, supported by CHED, at 12 schools to help them broaden their knowledge about the gaming industry.

“That's the point for us, we want to break the stigma for the student-athletes to have a future in terms of esports,” Recto shared.

“Alam mo naman sa history natin, pag sinabing naglalaro ka lang, wala kang future. So PCC prides itself in breaking the stigma.”

("You know, in our history, when someone says you're just playing video games, that means you have no future. So PCC prides itself in breaking the stigma.")

—Justin Kenneth Carandang/JMB, GMA Integrated News