MANILA — Smart Communications and Dark League Studios (DLS) has joined forces to further expand their reach in the esports scene, Wednesday.

The two parties plan to entice aspiring gamers from the ground up as they introduce their "grassroots to pro leagues" program.

"This [program] will help generate more opportunities for aspiring Filipino gamers to showcase and develop their skills as they aspire to become the next generation of Team SIBOL athletes," said Marlon Marcelo, executive director of Philippine Esports Organization, in a press release.

SIBOL is the national esports team of the Philippines.

DLS, an esports event management and production team, will work with Smart to bring to the esports scene the "Smart GIGA Arena," the country's first all-in-one esports platform which aims to give "tournament experience" to amateur players of popular mobile games in the country such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Call of Duty Mobile, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and League of Legends: Wild Rift.

Among the attendees in the event were Smart Communication's President and CEO Al Panlilio, Dark League Studios Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Alfrancis Chua, and AC Valdenor, CEO of Dark League Studios.

MLBB esports team Smart Omega was also in attendance.

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