The massive participation numbers of mobile games such as “Arena of Valor” and “Clash Royale” appeal to esports stakeholders.
Mobile devices are taking over the world everywhere except office settings and big-time esports, where investment in elite competitive circuits has gone almost entirely into games played on sophisticated personal computers.
But that’s starting to change as mobile game developers and esports organizations are bullish over the possibility of converting the vast market of casual mobile gamers into esports fans.
Consider the numbers: The Dutch research shop NewZoo says mobile games made up 41 percent of the $116 billion global gaming market in 2017 and are growing much faster than other platforms. But so far, there’s little interest in watching other people play them — mobile accounted for less than 0.5 percent of all North American and European Twitch gaming viewership, NewZoo said.
“The amount of people who play mobile games is staggering,” said Jason Lake, founder and CEO of compLexity Gaming, the esports organization acquired by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and real estate investor John Goff in November.
On April 3, compLexity was one of 36 teams globally to join a league launched by Finnish game developer Supercell for its title “Clash Royale,” a mobile strategy game that’s been downloaded 120 million times since its January 2016 launch.
CompLexity also created a new mobile division last month, hiring a full-time manager to oversee mobile strategy and evaluate other competitions to join. Immortals, an esports organization backed by a consortium including Lionsgate and Memphis Grizzlies co-owner Steve Kaplan, also launched a mobile division in March, acquired a team that will compete in the mobile “Arena of Valor” World Cup set for July, and joined the “Clash Royale” league.
These are low-risk gambits for organizations. Labor is cheap in the emerging games, and game publishers often pay teams to join the leagues, at least at first, in order to access their expertise and brand identity.
Building major esports out of mobile games will be a challenge. While mobile esports competitions have drawn good audiences in China, they’re essentially new to the western markets.
As a general rule, mobile games tend to be lightweight, non-competitive time-killers like “Candy Crush,” where luck and paid upgrades are as important as skill. Also, the technical limitations of touchscreens make it harder for an elite tier of players to develop, and the different format creates new challenges for event and stream production.
Immortals CEO Noah Whinston feels it’s well worth the effort. He said accessibility is at the core of esports’ appeal, compared to traditional sports that require real estate and specialized equipment. “Looking at ways of making it even more accessible, mobile is kind of top on our list,” Whinston said. “It’s way easier to have a PC than it is to have a basketball court, and at the same time it’s even easier to have a mobile phone than it is to have a PC. So as much as we still believe in the future of PC esports or console esports, mobile seems like the next step to access a much broader audience.”
The mobile games that might break through include “Clash Royale,” “Arena of Valor” and Giant Interactive’s “Battle of Balls,” because those games encourage engagement through casual peer-to-peer competition that can provide the basis for an elite scene. For instance, when “Clash Royale” operated an open competition to find a player pool for the new league, 25 million players tried out in just six days.
Tim Ebner, head of esports for Supercell, said the smooth path from casual player to serious competitor is a feature he wants to maintain as it develops a professional league. Supercell contracted with established team brands to populate the league, but those teams must select players from the tryout winners.
“There’s a certain energy to the rags-to-riches story so to speak,” Ebner said. “But we also see the value in stars who are winning consistently.”
Spectators are more apt to watch games on mobile devices, which opens new possibilities in game production, Ebner said. Ebner and the team owners emphasize the experimental nature of mobile esports.
“Trying to impose something identical to what we see in PC esports into a mobile ecosystem could end up just not working very well,” Whinston said. “Part of what we’re so excited about with the ‘Clash Royale’ league is the opportunity to work alongside one of the biggest mobile publishers in the world on experimenting with different formats.”
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