(Yicai) June 18 -- Moonton Games, a unit of TikTok owner ByteDance, has enhanced its tie-up with Qiddiya City, an entertainment and tourism megaproject in Riyadh, to promote the Chinese game developer's online battle arena game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports tournaments.

Qiddiya will be the global presenting partner of the MLBB M6 World Championship, the game's top competition this year, Moonton announced on June 13. It will also be the official sponsor of the premier MLBB Professional Leagues in the Middle East and North Africa, and Indonesia, it added.

"Through this partnership, Qiddiya and Moonton will provide additional multi-level support to MLBB competitive communities in key local territories, further solidifying their commitment to building and growing a sustainable environment for athletes and fans in key territories worldwide," the Shanghai-based firm noted.

Launched in 2016, MLBB has more than 110 million monthly active users and is most popular in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Last December, the MLBB M5 World Championship was held in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, with a viewership peak of over 500 million, making it the most popular mobile esports event in 2023.

The MLBB M6 World Championship will be held in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur in November.

Qiddiya became the global sponsor of MLBB's competitions last year. Located 40 kilometers west of Riyadh, it plans to build itself into a global entertainment, sports, and culture hub and be the home of the world's first special zone for games and esports.

Saudi Arabia has been focusing on developing diversified forms of economy to reduce its dependence on petroleum, with games and esports being an important part of its strategy. It aims to create 39,000 jobs in the game industry by 2030 and hike its gross domestic product for game-related sectors to USD13.3 billion, equal to 1 percent of its total.

Qiddiya will also host the inaugural 2024 Esports World Cup from next month to August. The event will have 19 games, including League of Legends, Dota 2, and StarCraftⅡ, with a more than USD60 million prize pool.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev