Mobile eSports is on track to become a cornerstone of the global digital games industry over the next 5 years.
The explosion of mobile platform
Mobile games appeared for over a decade and now have become a solid contributor to mainstream gaming. One of the memorable mobile game releases was the expansion of PUBG when it launched on all mobile platforms in 2018.
From a pay-to-play PUBG PC version to a free-to-play PUBG Mobile release, it resulted in an almost overnight sensation. Not long after that, Fortnite launched its mobile version of their blockbuster game, both Battle Royal games were noticeably successful and were getting strong support from communities all over the globe. People downloaded these games due to the availability of playing them anywhere at any time.
These successful mobile games marked the beginning of the mobile gaming era. There were a massive number of mobile gaming projects and still they're still on the rise now. The success of Call of Duty Mobile is the current highlight of this trend with over 50 million downloads in 2 weeks from release and over 500 million downloads until now.
Turning to mobile esports
After the successful boost in mobile gaming, gaming developers recognized the benefits of making their games for mobile devices with the inclusion of competitive eSports tournaments.
As a pioneer in mobile games, PUBG hosted many tournaments, making it both exciting and lucrative for their mobile gamers. The tournament strategy was world-class with flagship events, huge prize pools, and investments of world renown esports organizations like Cloud9, Fnatic, FaZe Clan,...
Fortnite considered itself out of depth when being compared to PUBG. Epic Games developed and released The Fortnite World Cup. This tournament had a whopping US$30 million prize pool — the biggest in the history of eSports at that time. Epic Games revealed data that revealed that over 2.3 million people watched the Fortnite World Cup Finals, it was the most-watched eSports event ever — with the exclusion of the Chinese eSports market.
The New Horizon for engagement & economy
Esports tournaments have achieved global success by attracting a spectator audience and using this audience to attract products or to drive in-game spending. Where esports success has traditionally been measured in viewership number of hours watched, esports tournaments are beginning to market to participants as well.
A shift toward participation will allow tournament organizers to monetize play, and this is already taking place across a growing number of third-party platforms which host online-only esports competitions. Open tournaments will allow sponsors to connect directly with esports players, resulting in new revenue streams that monetize tournaments for the players themselves, and they will increase the size of the global esports markets and participation numbers significantly.
Conclusion
Mobile eSports is on the path to becoming the mainstream gaming market globally. Mobile gaming is much more affordable and reaches a larger and more diverse audience than PC and Console games, this will allow mobile esports to attract more kinds of gamers and have a bigger viewership.