Moonton Games has revealed a formal integrity framework for its handheld esports title Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), developed in partnership with the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC). Now, any third-party tournament operator seeking a license to run an official MLBB competition must embed ESIC’s integrity protections into their competition documentation and operational processes.
The two organizations first partnered together in 2024, with Moonton becoming the first publisher among ESIC’s membership. The integrity body’s CEO, Stephen Hanna, told The Esports Advocate that the framework should not be viewed as a one-size-fits all model that every publisher would be expected to adopt in the same way.
“Different publishers have different ecosystems, tournament structures, regulatory priorities, operational capacities, and internal policies,” he said. “ESIC’s role is to make its standards, expertise, and infrastructure available so that publishers and other stakeholders can rely on them to the extent that they consider appropriate.”
Under the framework, licensed MLBB tournament organisers will be required to ensure all those competing acknowledge and comply with the ESIC Code of Conduct and associated integrity policies. This also means that approved tournament organisers must honor any impertinent ESIC sanctions, suspensions, and disciplinary outcomes.
This includes ESIC’s anti-doping standards, one of the few of its kind actively in use across esports. “Any practical deployment of anti-doping measures, including testing program implementation, would be undertaken in response to Moonton Games’ requirements and at their discretion,” Hanna told TEA.
“The objective is not simply to have policies on paper. It is to ensure that, where anti-doping measures are required, there is a practical and credible framework available to support implementation in a way that is proportionate, consistent, and aligned with recognized integrity standards.”
A popular mobile game across the Asian continent, MLBB has been featured in all four esports competitions at the Southeast Asian Games, and will make its Asian Games debut this year. When asked about how Olympic sanctioned multi-sports competitions fit into the third-party integrity framework, Stephen Hanna said this would ultimately depend on the relevant event structure, governing arrangements, and the approach taken by the rights holder and event organizer.
“As the title continues to appear in increasingly prominent competitive settings, it becomes more important that participants, organizers, and stakeholders are familiar with clear integrity expectations and that there is credible infrastructure available to support those expectations.”
He added that this principle will also apply to the Esports World Cup (EWC) and other international competitions. MLBB will feature in a $3 million prize pool Mid Season Cup in this year’s EWC, being one of the few games that counts its inclusion as an official stop in its international circuit. MLBB is also on the line-up for the inaugural Esports Nations Cup, scheduled towards the end of the year.
“For events such as the Esports World Cup or other international esports competitions featuring MLBB, the broader relevance is that this initiative reflects a maturing integrity environment around the title,” said Hanna.
“It demonstrates that MOONTON Games is taking a proactive approach to integrity governance and is willing to provide tournament organizers with access to established standards, model clauses, compliance guidance, and supporting infrastructure.”