Visa vs. Mastercard: When Esports Meets the Billion-Dollar Payment Rivalry

Visa became the global payment partner of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M Series. (Image: MOONTON Games)

On September 21, Visa announced its expansion in the esports arena, with a massive three-year partnership with MOONTON Games, the publisher of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. This partnership locks Visa in as the Global Payment Partner for the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M Series. The partnership will run from the M8 World Championship in 2027 through to the M10 in 2029. It serves as a direct continuation of their successful M7 event (2025) debut in Jakarta, which became the most-watched mobile esports event with 5.68 million concurrent viewers.

*Aurora Gaming PH Won MLBB M7 World Championship. (Image: MOONTON Games)*

The Payment Industry’s Shift Toward Esports

The global payments industry is increasingly utilizing esports as a primary vehicle to reach younger, digitally active consumers. Other than Visa and Mastercard, other well-known payment and financial brands like PayPal, Xsolla, American Express, and Paysafecard have partnered with esports.

*Xsolla partners with the Global Esports Federation. (Image: Xsolla)*

The reason why payment processors want to join the game space can be easily understood from the fact that esports matches tend to last for an exceptionally long time, and the crowd watching the event includes mostly young people who are avid users of the digital world. Besides, even if today these younger audiences do not have much spending capacity, they represent the key period for brand development.

Visa vs. Mastercard: How Exclusivity Shaped the Esports Rivalry

While several financial brands are entering the esports arena, the defining competition remains between Visa and Mastercard. Their established rivalry has shifted into competitive gaming, where the rules of engagement are dictated by strict category exclusivity. Top-tier esports events operate under exclusive publisher agreements. If a publisher partners with one payment company, its rivals are completely locked out. This structural reality is what ultimately forced Visa and Mastercard to adopt completely divergent market strategies.

Diverging Paths: The Mastercard Focus vs. The Visa Pivot

Visa made the first move between the two payment giants, entering the esports space in early 2017. They began with a 12-month sponsorship of SK Gaming, focusing specifically on the team's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster and integrating payment technology into their merchandise sales.

*Visa x SK Gaming partnership. (Image: Visa)*

However, following this initial team-level sponsorship, Visa's esports momentum abruptly stalled. Between 2017 and 2019, Visa halted major new esports partnerships, entering a multi-year strategic pause. The specific reasons behind this strategic pause remain publicly unknown.

It was during this window that Mastercard made its decisive move to secure a premium global PC esports partnership. In 2018, Mastercard forged a landmark, multi-year exclusivity agreement with Riot Games, becoming the first global sponsor of League of Legends esports. As a result of the partnership, Mastercard serves as the payment partner for League of Legends global esports events, focusing on three annual global tournaments: the Mid-Season Invitational, the All-Star Event, and the World Championship.

While Visa stepped back, Mastercard capitalized on its massive centralized exclusivity, locking down one of the largest ecosystems in competitive gaming.

*League of Legends World Championship 2018. (Image: Riot Games)*

Visa initially entered esports in 2017 through a 12-month sponsorship of SK Gaming, focusing on their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster and integrating payment tech into team merchandising.

The Return of Visa in Esports Arena

Due to the strict category exclusivity of esports sponsorships, Mastercard’s landmark 2018 partnership with Riot Games heavily restricted Visa’s options within top-tier PC esports. However, during Visa’s strategic pause (2017-2019) the mobile esports ecosystem experienced a massive boom.

Games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) and Free Fire were already gaining significant traction. MLBB, for instance, rapidly expanded its global footprint between 2018 and 2019 by launching MPL professional leagues across numerous emerging markets and hosting its inaugural M1 World Championship in 2019.

By 2020, mobile competitive gaming had built undeniable global influence, prompting Visa to officially return to the esports arena. This return was inaugurated by a September 2020 partnership with EVOS Esports, a prominent and highly successful Indonesian organization renowned for its MLBB dominance.

This collaboration went beyond basic branding, laying the groundwork for Visa's new transactional focus by offering fans a 50% discount on EVOS+ memberships and integrating Visa payments directly into the organization's infrastructure for in-game currency and merchandise purchases.

*EVOS Lynx Roster. (Image: EVOS Esports)*

Following this re-entry, Visa wove a wide, fragmented net of partnerships designed to build hyper-localized brand identity across diverse markets. In 2024, they secured naming rights with Team Liquid Brazil to tap into the passionate South American fanbase, partnered with Gentle Mates to engage the French audience, and drove APAC fan activations with TALON Esports.

On June 24, 2026, Visa announced a multi-year partnership with the Evolution Championship Series (Evo), the world's largest fighting game tournament. Moving beyond standard stream placements, the partnership between Evo and Visa offers specific cardholder perks like on-site merchandise discounts, new pick-up tournament styles, and more.

Simultaneously, Visa has invested heavily into the mobile esports audience. Through its multi-year extension with MOONTON Games (2027-2029), Visa is actively capturing millions of mobile-wallet-first consumers across Southeast Asia and Latin America. As a result of the MOONTON Games x Visa partnership, Visa will facilitate payments across more than 200 countries and territories. Visa cardholders can enjoy premium experiences such as priority ticketing, VIP venue access and backstage tours, strengthening brand perception through exclusive privileges.This footprint includes regional title sponsorships for the Vietnam MLBB Championship Series and the MLBB Pro League Philippines in September 2026.

*MOONTON announced Visa as its title sponsor for the Vietnam MLBB Championship Fall 2026. (Image: MOONTON Games)*

Mastercard’s Premium Esports Ecosystem Strategy

Mastercard, meanwhile, has continued to build aggressively on its premium esports events investments. After establishing its dominance with League of Legends, the company leveraged its deep ties with Riot Games to expand its exclusive partnership to the VALORANT Champions Tour in 2023. By deepening its relationship with Riot, Mastercard ensured that its branding remains synonymous with one of the largest PC esports broadcasts in the world.

Furthermore, Mastercard broadened its global footprint beyond single-publisher events by becoming an official partner of the sprawling Esports World Cup (EWC) in July 2024. By aligning with a mega-festival of this scale, Mastercard reinforced its commitment to a relatively focused and dedicated premium esports ecosystem.

*Esports World Cup x Mastercard partnership. (Image: Esports Foundation)*

The Current Landscape: Two Paths to Dominance

Today, the two giants operate with clear, opposing underlying logics. Mastercard continues to rely on a relatively focused and dedicated in-depth cooperation strategy, anchoring itself to massive global PC ecosystems and elite premium festivals. In contrast, Visa has cast a wide, decentralized net across mobile platforms, emerging regional markets, and grassroots gaming communities.

Whether Visa’s current approach was born out of necessity due to Mastercard's early dominance, or an active choice to capture the mobile gaming generation, the result is a fascinating showcase of how two global competitors can successfully carve out entirely distinct territories within the same industry.