Dennis Gaviola

Tryke Gutierrez, co-founder of Tier One Entertainment and co-owner of Blacklist International. Kennedy Caacbay, ABS-CBN News

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Tryke Gutierrez

John Franklin Kennedy Caacbay

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1737624978085IMG_20250123_173443.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Tryke Gutierrez, co-founder of Tier One Entertainment and co-owner of Blacklist International. <em>Kennedy Caacbay, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA, Philippines – Tryke Gutierrez, co-founder of Tier One Entertainment, explained Thursday the business rationale that led to Blacklist International leaving MPL Philippines and transferring their spot to a new entity.</p><p>In a talk with reporters at the Tier One Entertainment headquarters in Taguig City, Gutierrez shared how they ended up with that choice, saying that selling their MPL franchise slot allowed them to &quot;reassess our position in the market.&quot;</p><p>Blacklist International is the esports division of Tier One Entertainment.</p><p>Gutierrez said, for the record, that they weren&#x27;t &quot;proactively looking for an opportunity to sell,&quot; but this opportunity prompted them to internally check their vision for the next 2-3 years.</p><p>&quot;Hindi naman kami proactively looking for an opportunity to sell, for the record. We were just open sa pag-receive ng potential offers or we were just entertaining conversations,&quot; Gutierrez shared.</p><p>&quot;But when this business opportunity came, of course as a CEO, you&#x27;re obliged to assess. &#x27;Ito ba talaga &#x27;yung tamang path pa for the organization in the next 2-3 years? Ito pa ba &#x27;yung gusto ng organization? Will the organization benefit from this?&#x27; And the way we see it is we saw it as an opportunity to reassess our position in the market,&quot; he added.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/esports/2025/1/21/mlbb-blacklist-international-transfers-franchise-ownership-exits-mpl-scene-1620"><strong>READ: MLBB: Blacklist International transfers franchise ownership, exits MPL scene<br/></strong></a></div><p>&quot;Because you don&#x27;t have a chance naman every day to be able to exit a certain investment and then eventually reassess your position. So when that came to us, parang ang naisip talaga namin was like, &#x27;sige, this is the chance to technically reassess our position on the space.&#x27;&quot;</p><p>Gutierrez went on to say that esports is huge, and MLBB — just a reality check — is not just the only title in the ecosystem.</p><p>Blacklist currently has teams in other titles such as Pokemon Unite and Honor of Kings.</p><p>&quot;I fully believe in esports because...  Don&#x27;t misquote me on this. Because MLBB is not the esports scene. I&#x27;m not in a negative way. It&#x27;s just facts. MLBB is a huge part of the Philippine esports ecosystem. However, if you look into esports, there are other titles na that are part of the whole ecosystem,&quot; he said.</p><p>Blacklist&#x27;s exit from the MPL made waves, as expected, breaking the hearts of their &quot;Agents&quot; and shocking the esports community.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/12/21/21/pingris-tumakbong-naka-bra-dahil-sa-panalo-ng-blacklist"><strong>READ: Marc Pingris tumakbong naka-bra dahil sa panalo ng Blacklist</strong></a></div><p>Across several iterations, Blacklist stamped its class and its departure from the local league surely will be felt.</p><p>The Codebreakers clinched a world title at the M3 World Championship and nabbed three MPL titles—from Seasons 7, 8, and 10.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><br/></div><div> </div>

<p>Tryke Gutierrez, co-founder of Tier One Entertainment, provided insights into the business rationale that prompted Blacklist International to leave MPL Philippines and sell their franchise to a new entity.</p>

Tryke Gutierrez, co-founder of Tier One Entertainment, provided insights into the business rationale that prompted Blacklist International to leave MPL Philippines and sell their franchise to a new entity.

Tryke Gutierrez explains decision on selling franchise slot as Blacklist exits MPL

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Tryke Gutierrez explains decision on selling franchise slot as Blacklist exits MPL

Kennedy Caacbay,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jan 23, 2025 08:09 PM PHT

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