Bren Esports under new management

MANILA, Philippines — One of the legacy teams in the Philippine esports scene, Bren Esports, has ushered in a new age as it competes under a new management — Aces Pro Corp (AP) — and will now be known as AP Bren moving forward.

The first Mobile Legends Bang Bang team to win a world title back in January 2021, Bren Esports also boasts of the MPL Philippines Season 6 title as well as the 2023 Southeast Asian Games gold in the same esports title.

Aces Pro Corp CEO Jean Alphonse "AJ" Ponce is an esports fellow himself and has established multiple grassroots programs like the "Tambay TV League" and amateur Mobile Legends team AP Esports — which has produced talents such as ECHO's Alston "Sanji" Pabico, Burn X Flash's Mariusz "Donut" Tan, PRO Esports' Jhonwin "Hesa" Vergara, and Team Outplay's Rainiel "URESHII" Logronio.

"The rebrand enables the team to move forward from the organizational challenges of 2023 and perform significantly better through the infusion of more resources for recruitment and player development. The Bren brand is well-loved and it has proven itself in multiple leagues. While there is no shortage of raw talent in its roster, my hope is that our leadership can help propel them to go ever upward," said Ponce in a statement.

In a press conference announcing the new move, Bren's chief operating officer Leo "Jab" Escutin shared that with what the team had experienced last year, it was time they looked for new support for the team.

"It's no secret that we've been running into some issues with our current management. Given the resources we were getting, we had to find a way to consistently support our athletes. I made the decision that we had to find new management to do so. AJ and his experience with esports is what we needed. The transition was very smooth because he understood what we needed. Our goals are the same: to provide support to showcase our athletes and we hope to do that together moving forward." said Escutin.

Bren Esports was previously under Bernard “Bren” Chong, who was allegedly involved in a botched drug smuggling activity. The Court of Appeals overturned the charges against Chong last May.

Under the new management, Escutin has shared that though the team is working on preparing for the upcoming season of the Mobile Legends Professional and Development League, AP Bren is not limited to Mobile Legends.

"Maybe in the future, we will look at new games that we can get into. We are focused on Mobile Legends but in the future we may develop teams in other games. Back under Bren we were developing different teams in different titles simultaneously and it was resource heavy for us. Now, with AP Bren, we have more leeway to study if it's feasible for us to develop teams for other titles," said Escutin.