The esports industry is booming. Millions of people across the world follow their favourite esports teams and players passionately, and the sector is one of the fast-growing in the wider video games industry.
Esports are long-established on both console and PC, but in recent times we’ve started to see an increase in the popularity of mobile game esports. However, we still haven’t yet seen the emergence of a flagship mobile gaming title. So far, mobile gaming esports has been focused on console or PC games redesigned for the mobile platform. When will esports have a major mobile title? Let’s find out.
What is Esports?
Esports is short for electronic sports. To put it simply, esports is simply competitive video game tournaments. While video game tournaments are nothing new, esports are highly organized and have professional players and teams taking part, often with sponsorship and partnerships with major global brands.
Esports Industry Stats
Esports were once a relatively obscure activity with little to no mainstream awareness. However, esports has enjoyed incredible success over the past few years, accelerated by the proliferation of modern streaming platforms and technology.
Today, the global esports market is estimated to be worth around $1.08 billion. China and the USA have the largest esports scenes, with China representing almost 20% of the industry. In 2022, around 530 million people watched esports. This number is set to increase, expected to rise to above 600 million by 2025.
Modern streaming and internet technology have been driving forces behind the success of esports. They’ve given a boost to other industries as well, you’ll see them used everywhere from a streaming service to an online casino NZ based platform.
The Most Popular Mobile Games for Esports
So, it’s clear to see that esports is a big industry, and it looks like it’s only going to get bigger. What about mobile esports specifically? What are the most popular mobile gaming esports titles?
PUBG Mobile, a mobile recreation of the game Player Unknown Battlegrounds, is one of the most successful mobile gaming esports titles. To date, over 112 million hours of PUBG Mobile esports have been watched by fans, and the game has a number of dedicated tournaments for players and teams to enter. PUBG Mobile even won the Esports Mobile Game of the Year award at the 2022 Esports Awards.
Call of Duty Mobile, another recreation of a console and PC game, is also incredibly popular. The game’s flagship tournament is Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship, which is an annual event organized by the developer Activision. In 2022, the tournament had a prize pool of over $2 million and attracted an average viewer base of more than 16,000.
What About an Esports Mobile Title?
Both the titles mentioned previously are mobile recreations of console and PC games. While these are certainly helping push the esports industry on, will there ever be a title just for mobile esports? The answer is that there already is!
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a mobile-only game and is one of, if not the most, mobile esports titles. Over 330 million game hours have been watched, and the game’s various tournaments attract audiences of more than 2 million.
