“We want to win”: Philippines Esports Federation eyes Honor of Kings as next big title

Last weekend, the Honor of Kings KPL Grand Finals 2025 saw a record-breaking 62,000-plus fans cheer on the final two teams in what is officially the largest esports event in history.

Also witnessing the pinnacle of Honor of Kings esports and the game’s populairty in China were interested esports stakeholders and federations. The latter of which wants to bring that success to their own countries.

One of those countries is the Philippines, where mobile esports is a major player in its ecosystem. This year, the country is also set to host the Honor of Kings International Championship later this week, the biggest event for the game’s global esports structure.

Esports Insider’s Olivia Richman sat down with Marlon Marcelo, the Executive Director of the Philippines Esports Federation, to learn more about the country’s plans for growing its own Honor of Kings scene, despite limited resources and a passionate community.

Marcelo: In the presentation, I was quite surprised. The esports clubs here in China are very robust and they have the standards that any club should aspire to as we move forward. They had a lot of things happening — additional revenues that traditional esports clubs tend to get jealous of. 

Marcelo: In the private sector, it’s very possible. In rural areas where the internet is available. It opens up an opportunity for our government to invest in esports. I’m here to check and report to our national government, to show them how big of a scale esports is.

In the Philippines, Honor of Kings is the unofficial sport of the youth. In the Philippines, there’s a mobile-centric market because of the capabilities of the people. We have world-class talent that shines in different genres. Since we excel in mobile, we see numerous opportunities. 

Marcelo: It’s the fans, number one. The fans love esports events. If they see an esports event, they will check it out.

The Philippines is really starved of getting those international events. From previous events we have hosted, like Manila Masters in Dota 2, it’s always full. I’m assuming that this kind of event will continue as they see the trend that Filipinos love esports. We also have good hospitality. We might not have the top-tier venues, but our hospitality is top-notch. 

The government is closely examining it. Everyone knows esports is a sport of youth. But there are some barriers. Some adults see esports as a niche sport. Just gaming, not responsibility. It’s old stuff, but the stigma is still there.

We are excited because Filipino fans have been known to be the crazy ones, whatever that game is. We welcome the scenario of hosting another big event. 

Marcelo: We are happy that international teams are now investing and eyeing Filipino athletes. We occupy a unique cultural position. We are more Western than our Southeast Asian friends. But we understand Asian culture. It’s a very good spot. We are very proficient in English, which is reflected in some of the movements we have seen.

Before mobile games, we were active in MOBAs. We were fans of Dota 2 and League of Legends… Big teams from other Western countries have all these kinds of games, so the youth culture in the Philippines is involved in esports. So much so, it becomes part of their lifestyle, other than going out, playing traditional sports.

Filipinos are social beings who love to hang out. During the pandemic, we saw a boom of gamers. That’s the only way they could interact. It became an extracurricular activity after studies or work. You’d come online to see the camaraderie and check up on fellow gamers. 

Marcelo: We have a strong partnership with Tencent. We wanted to replicate the success of [our] Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s grassroots scene. Then move to pros and national teams. If you have a good grassroots programme, that translates to a bigger pool of athletes that we can move to become pros.

Sooner or later, they can graduate and serve the national team. It helps that we have a government partnership. We would like Honor of Kings to be actively involved in government dialogues. The strategy for gaining good grassroots support involves schools establishing Honor of Kings clubs. It’s a two-pronged approach. 

Marcelo: We have a national grassroots esports programme. The current issue, however, is that in the Philippines, there’s no continuity. We support games for five years, then they’re gone. The government wonders why it should support if there’s no long-term lifespan; it feels it’s wasting resources.

So we are very particular about what type of esports title we are supporting. Currently, that includes MLBB, Dota 2, then games that are Tier 2.

We plan to add Honor of Kings because I’ve seen the roadmap, and it’s worth a shot to invest in a national team and get to the Asian Games. For us, we want to achieve a first-ever gold medal in the Olympics for esports. That’s our goal.

If the goal is that, we need to know which games we have a shot at getting that gold medal. In esports, there are a lot of genres — console, PC — that we have surrendered to other countries. Our strength is mobile, and we need to translate that to medals. 

We want to win. We are inclined to be better than our Southeast Asian neighbours in mobile. At the Pokémon World Championship, we are number one. There is that skill, and we are translating it into opportunities.

We are happy Tencent is taking notice of our country. It’s one way of making sure we have investment in our esports scene and our international team will be ready for big events like Esports Olympics. 

In the Asian Games, China will win gold. However, we always have a chance of winning medals. This proves that our foresight is right, and we should brag to the government that this is the path we want to take. We just hope for the best.

Editor’s note: Esports Insider was invited to the event on behalf of Tencent. This included travel and accommodation. Esports Insider has full editorial control of the content.