Interview: Celebrating Ten Years of the ‘Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’ Theme

The mobile gaming market accounts for the most lucrative sector of the global video game industry, and with that success has come an entire cultural history of iconic games, characters, and musical themes. Fans of the popular Mobile Legends: Bang Bang game, which boasts over 1.5 billion registered players across more than 190 countries, know this better than most, as the game’s cultural impact can be felt across cosplay, esports, and of course, music. Ten years after its release, developer Moonton celebrates the game’s legacy with a special new theme song “All in MLBB.” Composer Mason Lieberman and producer Zekai Liu of Moontunes Studio sat down with Awards Radar to discuss their work on the track, which also features lead vocals from Casey Lee Williams.

“The song needed to feel like a genuine anniversary anthem rather than a conventional motivational pop song,” says Lieberman. “The melody had to be direct and memorable, and the chorus needed to feel large enough to represent a global community. We built the track around a strong central hook, so that it could feel connected to MLBB’s world while still standing as its own piece of music.”

To further celebrate Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and its global community, Lieberman and Liu developed two different versions of the song. The first was a professional version with live orchestra, regional instruments, professional vocalists, and a broad ensemble. The second was a “Players’ Version” featuring real MLBB players from around the world.

“That made the anniversary concept more tangible: one version presents the professional musical statement, while the other lets the player community participate directly in the song,” says Liu.

The development of additional versions did present a challenge, however. Suddenly, this music had to function as not only a theme song or a celebration of a popular mobile game, but also as an individual listening experience, or as background to the game itself.

“This project also required us to think beyond one audio file. The professional song, the Players’ Version, the Main Theme BGM, the in-game use, the streaming release, and the visual materials all needed to feel connected while serving different purposes,” says Liu. “That broader project approach helped us treat the music as a complete anniversary system rather than an isolated track.”

Check out our full conversation with the team behind “All in MLBB” below!

When composing a theme song for a 10th anniversary, there’s a decade of history and existing music associated with the game. Were there particular musical references, themes, or milestones from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang that influenced your writing, and how did you decide what to incorporate into an entirely new song?

Zekai Liu: For us, MLBB’s 10th anniversary is shared by the game and its players. The song needed to acknowledge the past decade, celebrate the present, and look toward the next ten years.

The creative direction was therefore built around three ideas: shared memories, a present-tense celebration, and anticipation for the future. We wanted the lyrics and arrangement to feel like a conversation between the game and its players rather than a message delivered only from the company’s perspective.

Musically, we used the energy of a global festival anthem as the starting point. The reference was contemporary world-pop: strong rhythm, an immediate hook, clear English lyrics, and a chorus that could be understood and sung by players from different language backgrounds. We deliberately avoided simply reusing an earlier MLBB theme, because the anniversary needed a new musical identity rather than a retrospective remix.

Mason Lieberman: From a writing perspective, the song needed to feel like a genuine anniversary anthem rather than a conventional motivational pop song. The melody had to be direct and memorable, and the chorus needed to feel large enough to represent a global community. We built the track around a strong central hook, so that it could feel connected to MLBB’s world while still standing as its own piece of music.

With so many distinct instrumental textures and vocal layers in “All in MLBB,” how did you approach the song’s arrangement from a songwriting perspective? Were there particular melodies, harmonies, or transitions that became central to making the track feel unified?

ZL: The arrangement was designed around contrast and progression.

The verses needed to remain relatively clear and conversational, while the pre-choruses gradually increased the sense of anticipation. The choruses then expanded into a larger group sound. We also wanted the wordless vocal hook to be immediately memorable, so that the song could communicate beyond the English lyrics and give players something easy to sing together.

The main production challenge was avoiding a “collection of sounds” effect. We had many instruments and vocal layers, but each one needed a specific role: rhythmic movement, melodic color, transition, or emotional lift. We repeatedly adjusted the balance between the pop rhythm section, ethnic instruments, orchestral layers, lead vocal, and backing vocals so the song could remain clear while still feeling large and celebratory.

ML: We treated the main vocal melody and the chorus hook as the anchor elements that needed to stay clear and recognizable, and built the instruments and vocal layers around them. Instrumental transitions and recurring motifs helped connect the different sections. Because the production has so many distinct colors, the arrangement needed a clear hierarchy — not every instrument plays continuously; each one appears at specific moments to support the song.

When working with traditional instruments from different musical cultures in a contemporary pop setting, how do you approach honoring their individual musical identities while giving them a role that feels natural within the composition?

ZL: We did not want the traditional instruments to function as surface decoration. They were integrated into the pop arrangement according to what each instrument could contribute musically.

Angklung was used for a bright, dense rhythmic texture; Kompang reinforced the communal pulse; Ranat Ek added crisp transitional figures; Bağlama / Saz and Balalaika provided distinctive riff and string colors; Bandurria brought a bright, celebratory plucked sound associated with Filipino fiesta traditions; and Bansuri and Xiao added woodwind color and melodic detail.

The broader idea was to let different cultural instruments participate in the same contemporary production without forcing them into one uniform sound. Their individual identities remain audible, but they work together inside a shared pop and orchestral framework.

ML: A key principle was to treat the traditional instruments as part of the song’s rhythm, texture, or transition language, rather than asking every instrument to carry a long traditional melody. That allowed each instrument to keep its character while still contributing to one unified arrangement.

What was the most unexpected discovery you made during the creation of “All in MLBB”? Was there a particular musical idea, performance, or moment in the production process that took the song in a direction you hadn’t initially anticipated?

ZL: The most unexpected discovery was how much the project evolved once the idea of “players singing with the game” became more than just a theme and started shaping the actual production.

The professional version developed into a large international production with live orchestra, regional instruments, professional vocalists, and a broad ensemble. We then created the Players’ Version with real MLBB players from multiple countries. That made the anniversary concept more tangible: one version presents the professional musical statement, while the other lets the player community participate directly in the song.

The two versions are not meant to replace one another. They show two sides of the same anniversary — the craft of the professional production and the community that gives the game its meaning.

ML: One of the most rewarding surprises was how much the song grew when the live instrumental and vocal elements were added. The Budapest orchestra, together with the international instruments and the layered ensemble vocals, created a scale that was difficult to fully predict from the early demos. Some sections became more cinematic and energetic than we initially imagined, while still retaining the central pop identity of the song.

Having worked across music for games and other media, how has your approach to composing evolved when a project needs to serve both a specific entertainment property and stand on its own as a piece of music? Did “All in MLBB” challenge you to think about that balance differently?

ZL: The key is to separate two things: what makes the music feel connected to the IP, and what makes it stand on its own as a piece of music.

For “All in MLBB,” the connection to the game comes from the anniversary narrative, the game-and-player relationship, the global instrumental palette, and the communal vocal concept. The independent musical identity comes from the hook, the pop structure, the emotional progression, and the production quality.

This project also required us to think beyond one audio file. The professional song, the Players’ Version, the Main Theme BGM, the in-game use, the streaming release, and the visual materials all needed to feel connected while serving different purposes. That broader project approach helped us treat the music as a complete anniversary system rather than an isolated track.

ML: When writing for a game or other entertainment property, the music needs to belong to that world, but it also needs to work for listeners who may encounter it outside the property. That balance requires understanding the project’s identity without making the song dependent on information that only existing fans would know.