For sportsbook operators, mobile esports games are a gold mine. Thousands of bookmakers have gotten on the esports train with confidence, thanks to a regular supply of new games and a continuously churning following that provides an opportunity unlike any other in traditional sports.
While the epidemic of 2020 slowed the business significantly, the next big thing in esports is already happening.
Mobile gaming is already one of the most profitable enterprises on the planet.
Smartphones that can run high-definition games are becoming more ubiquitous in the global south, bringing billions of dollars into the phone gaming business.
A few phone applications have generated competitive scenes with millions of followers and funds fueling competitiveness, inspired by their PC and console-based forebears.
Mobile Esports Games
While PC and console games are well-established, mobile esports is rapidly gaining traction.
In 2020, mobile gaming competitions will have surpassed several traditional PC esports, with prize pools that are often comparable to, if not identical to, those of traditional PC esports.
Mobile esports games are particularly popular in China and Thailand, and we expect the world of mobile esports to truly take over with the release of esports games like League of Legends: Wild Rift on mobile and the PUBG Mobile Pro League in 2021.
1. PUBG Mobile
PUBG may be played on a variety of platforms, including PlayStation, PC, and cloud gaming services. Bluehole Studios, on the other hand, has opted to concentrate on PUBG mobile for esports.
In 2020, the esport surpassed another esports shooter, Garena Free Fire, with an anticipated 134.5 million hours of viewer time.
In January 2021, the PUBG Mobile World Championship was held, becoming one of the top five most viewed tournaments of all time, including for PC gaming. PUBG Mobile holds competitions in nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
The PUBG Mobile Club Open (PMCO) series was one of the most popular esports competitions of all time. PMCO 2020 was broadcast in 14 countries, with a high viewing of 87,500 persons in India.
Meanwhile, the PMPL’s spring and autumn editions received a lot of attention. PUBG feeds are accessible on Twitch, and Nimo TV customers may watch the game live.
2. Garena Free Fire
Garena’s esports In 2020, the number of hours watched on Free Fire increased dramatically. With a peak of 2.5 million viewers, the 2020 Free Fire Continental Series Asia was the most viewed esports tournament.
The latter attracted an even larger viewership than the game’s most popular iteration in Latin America. Meanwhile, the Asian and American divisions, which include PC esports, were the world’s second and third most popular esports competitions, respectively.
Garena swiftly replaced PUBG as the most popular mobile esports games shooter in India when PUBG was banned. As a result, Free Fire has become one of the most popular free esports games available.
3. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, developed by Moonton in China, was a great hit, especially in Asia. Tournaments may now be seen live on Nimo TV and even TikTok. ML: BB is slowly gaining traction in Indonesia, and it is also gaining traction in the rest of Southeast Asia.
In the Philippines, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, there are now leagues. Each competition manages to set new attendance records.
MPL has even eclipsed the LoL LCK Korean league to become the world’s second most common esports league. The sport grew in popularity in Russia during the M2 World Championship 2020 for the CIS area.
4. Arena of Valor / King of Glory
AoV and its sibling game, King of Glory, are two of the world’s most popular esports games. While KoG is exclusively available in China, its global skin Arena of Valor attracts some of the largest mobile esports audiences. Both games had a fantastic year in 2020.
5. AoV in the year 2020
In 2019, AoV was the most popular mobile esport, but by 2020, it had dropped to fourth place.
Nonetheless, in just one year, its viewership climbed by 30%, indicating that the mobile esports game would be around for a long time.
The lower number of competitions in 2020, mostly due to the epidemic, had a lot to do with it. Vietnam, Thailand, and Taiwan are among the most popular Southeast Asian countries for the game.
The number of people watching the 2020 Arena of Valor International Championship increased to 568K.
6. In 2020, KoG will be a reality
Despite lockdowns and other limitations, King of Glory had a good 2020 mobile esports games. The King Pro League was forced to migrate online; therefore, we don’t know how many people watched it.
Despite this, the game is extremely popular in China and has a global following. To learn more, check out our MOBA esports guide.
7. Clash Royale
Supercell’s Clash Royale has remained at number five. While it was unable to improve its position, the number of hours watched increased by 31.3 percent. Clash Royale League World Finals 2020, on the other hand, only drew 112K viewers at its peak, a lower figure than in 2019.
In fact, LoL: Wild Rift esports has already surpassed Clash Royale in terms of peak viewership by the end of 2020.
8. Brawl Stars
In the year 2020, the fight game Brawl Stars set new records. This mobile esport attracts 280 thousand peak viewers for the Brawl Stars World Finals 2020, with PSG Esports taking home the top prize of $200,000. English and Turkish were the most popular stream languages.
Meanwhile, viewers were given a pin merely for watching, which must have raised viewing significantly. Because Street Fighter fans love the game, we may expect more from it in 2020.
9. Magic: The Gathering
Magic the Gathering is a bit of an outlier in the realm of esports, but Hearthstone betting is a popular genre among bettors, as the two games share a similar concept and structure.
In December 2020, when the Zendicar Rising Championship was held, Magic: The Gathering had a peak viewership of 41.5K. With 29.7K peak viewers in October, the Magic 2020 Season Grand Finals were also moderately successful.
10. Call of Duty Mobile
Call of Duty is already well-known on PC and console, with CoD phone esports gaining popularity in 2020. For example, the SEA region’s COD Mobile World Championship 2020 had a high audience of 38,083 and 335,513 hours watched on Twitch.
Their United states Europe operations obtained similar results.
11. Clash of Clans
Clash of Clans esports, another Supercell game, had a good year in 2020, notwithstanding the covid outbreak limitations. The top viewership for the 2020 Clash of Clans World Championship was over 80.7K, with over 443K hours viewed on Twitch.
