The Rise of Mobile Esports
As esports continue to grow in popularity, games like Overwatch, Dota2 and League of Legends take the center stage in front of huge, global audiences. Meanwhile, a less recognized segment of the esports market is steadily on the rise, which could end up being very significant in the development of the esports market: mobile esports.
Esports as a whole is booming across the globe with investment from major companies increasing year-on-year and no end in sight. Mobile gaming looks set to be part of that and is only just starting to get off the ground.
Mobile gaming is the most lucrative segment of the gaming market. According to Newzoo, revenue for the mobile gaming sector reached $46.1 billion in 2017, 42 percent of the total gaming market. They predict that this will rise to $64.9 billion by 2020.
One explanation for the rise in mobile gaming is that it is due to culture and habits. While 20 somethings and older grew up with PCs and consoles, the younger generation are far more accustomed to smartphones and it feels entirely natural for them to play exclusively on mobile.
As these younger generations grow up and mobile technology improves, it seems likely that mobile gaming will become even more widespread.
The popularity of mobile esports is all about accessibility. Not everyone can afford a high-end computer, but nearly everyone has a mobile phone with a Wi-Fi connection and can easily play games like Arena of Valor, Vainglory, Clash of Clans or Fortnite. These games have millions of fans and are bringing in millions in revenue for the developers. Tournaments organizers are offering hundreds of thousands of dollars in mobile esports competitions and esport team franchises are getting involved.
Supercell, developers of Clash Royale capitalized on its huge audience with a $1 million tournament in 2017, which attracted 27.4 million entrants — more than any other esports event. The tournament was a huge success, and the event resembled any other esports event, with huge projectors and screaming fans, just no desktop computers.
In March, esports franchise Immortals announced its new division, Immortals Mobile and have acquired a teams to compete in Clash Royale and Tencent’s Arena of Valor game. Other teams with mobile divisions include SK Gaming, Mouse Sports, G2 Esports and Fnatic. These deals are big endorsements for mobile esports and allow the teams the opportunity to connect with the largest player bases in the world.
The largest market for mobile gaming is in the Asia-Pacific region, which generates $27.5 billion. Arena of Valor, has over 200 million regular players in China alone (under the original name Honor of Kings). The fact that the final of Arena of Valor’s first World Cup, at the end of last month, was held in California demonstrates the company’s commitment to establishing a global presence for the game.
Team Korea beat Team Thailand in the AoV final, with Team Chinese Taipei and Team China coming third and fourth.
Despite not making the finals, general manager and head of mobile for Immortals, Jeff “SuiJeneris” Chau is optimistic for the potential of mobile esports outside of Asia. On the location choice for the final, he said “it’s signaling to organizations that are based in North America or the West that they are here to stay in North America, and they are here to invest in North America and EU, western audience.”
Western esport audiences still gravitate towards PC based titles over mobile. Since it’s launch in the West in December, Arena of Valor only reached one million downloads on IOS and Android last month. However, Tencent are confident in their approach to the Western market and believe that the key to getting Western players interested in competitive mobile gaming is awareness. Players need to know that mobile is a legitimate way to be competitive in esports, just on a different platform.
Certainly, with the massive investment in mobile esports we are seeing, along with mobile’s accessibility and the endorsement of major teams and tournaments it could be argued that it is a question of “when” not “if” the mobile esports scene explodes outside of Asia. Already, mobile games represent the fastest growing segment of the gaming industry, and mobile esports are in a good position to benefit from that explosive growth.
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