Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which has seen its fair share of Filipino world champions, will be a medal event in the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.
The Philippines just gained tremendous potential for an early gold medal bid in the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, after the inclusion of esports title Mobile Legends: Bang Bang as a medal event in the multi-sport competition.
A total of 11 medal events will be included in the event and will be the third edition of the Games which feature esports — with the first appearance of esports in 2018 as a demonstration sport. By the 2022 Asian Games in China, it was already a medal sport.
However, this will be the first time that MLBB will be included among the titles.
The decision to include MLBB was made after a meeting over the weekend, where they also combined the “competitive martial arts” esports event with only one medal across three titles — Street Fighter, Tekken, and King of Fighter.
Other events include Pokemon Unite, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile, Identity V, Naraka: Bladepoint, Gran Turismo, Efootball Series, and Puyo Puyo Champions.
The inclusion of MLBB hikes the Philippines’ chances of a gold medal in the esports event, as Filipinos have enjoyed much success in the title globally.
Out of the six M-series world championships, five have been won by Philippine teams, most recently by then-Fnatic ONIC Philippines in M6 in Malaysia.
The Philippines have also won three straight gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games for the MLBB event.
In the last Asian Games, the Philippines sent 25 esports athletes but failed to come home with a podium finish.