The Malaysian division of Filipino esports organisation Mineski‘s events team, officially known as MET Malaysia, has broken off to form IO Esports.
The separation of IO Esports from MET – previously known as Mineski Events Team – is said to be to be amicable, with the motivation behind the split down coming down to differences in business goals.
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Under the new brand, IO Esports will operate as an event organiser and will continue to run Mineski Infinity cyber-cafes in Malaysia under a separate franchise agreement.
The team at IO Esports ran the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang M1 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur last November. The event saw 4,000 attendees and around 650,000 views on YouTube Gaming.
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Kenchi Yap, Chief Executive Officer of IO Esports, commented in a release: “The decision to spin-off from Mineski is due to our differences in strategic planning and the direction of the company. I would like to thank Mineski for their collaborative efforts for the past 10 years, working together in flourishing the global esports industry. Nonetheless, we have parted ways with Mineski on good terms and will continue to focus on our new direction.”
IO Esports is yet to publicly establish its goals and roadmap, but it’s expected that it will target Southeast Asia, providing events management, live production, and content distribution services. In particular, the organisation is said to be looking to target the enormous appetite for mobile gaming that the region holds.
Esports Insider says: If all parts of the business aren’t singing from the same hymn sheet it can make things difficult. By the looks of it, the split works for both parties, IO Esports can pursue its events goals and Mineski still has an operator for its Malaysian net cafes. IO’s banking on mobile gaming will be an interesting one to watch, and it’s well placed strategically and geographically to make the most of it.