By now, you’ve probably heard of the term eSports, but if you haven’t, it’s basically a fancy term for professional, competitive video gaming.
Recent statistics suggest that by 2021, the global eSports market will be worth around $1.7 billion, and with the viewing figures looking set to increase for the foreseeable future, the eSports industry is one of the fastest growing sectors within the gaming landscape. With popular eSports games such as Fortnite and Overwatch now ready and available to play on your mobile device, is it really possible to competitively game from your smartphone or tablet, or does the recent release of these apps simply cater to the more casual gamer?
Professional Gaming On Mobile – Does It Actually Exist?
There’s an old saying in the English language that goes something like, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean that you should”, and this is arguably applicable to playing competitively from your mobile device. However, when you delve a little bit deeper into it, there are indeed dedicated mobile eSports games such as Turbo League, Vainglory and Honor of Kings – the latter of which will have a World Cup dedicated to it next July. In addition to this, mobile game developers such as Supercell have found success in creating games such as Clash Royale, which are completely unique and look nothing like anything found in the back catalogues of Sony and Microsoft.
Last year, Clash Royale held one of the biggest events of the eSports calendar, with 27.4 million players taking part; Supercell earned $2 billion in revenue alone in 2017, largely thanks to the release of other games such as Brawl Stars. In some ways, when considering the concept of eSports on mobile, it’s better to think of it as a slightly different entity to competitive gaming on the console because many of the games are specifically formatted and designed to be played on a smaller, less powerful device. Nevertheless, on current evidence, the mobile eSports industry is going strong.
eSports Juggernauts Are Now Available on Mobile – Does This Change Things?
When talking about eSports, it’s easy to assume that the phenomenon beings and ends with the core triumvirate of Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and League of Legends. These three games remain the most played and watched in the eSports arena and are arguably the main reasons behind the success that we see in the competitive gaming scene today -their popularity is further reflected in the fact that major betting firms such as Betway now offer odds on major tournaments such as the Intel Grandslam and VSC Summer Playoffs in major games such as CS:GO and Overwatch, respectively. This, coupled with the fact that there are now more mobile phones than people in the world, means it makes perfect sense that game developers such as Blizzard and Valve have released mobile versions of their most popular games and even Epic Games have recently got in on the act with a mobile Fortnite game that is available from the Android and iOS app stores.
However, the main drawback associated with playing games on your mobile device has and always will be the size of the screen you play on. Despite the fact the size of the average smartphone display has increased over time, success in games such as Overwatch and CS:GO is dependent on players being able to see the full picture and this is obviously much easier on a 50 inch smart television than a Samsung Note 9, for example, and this is where the situation becomes slightly paradoxical. Mobile devices are designed for convenience and this means that they have to be able to fit handily in your pocket – this, however, means that smartphone gamers will always be a slave to a small display until we see some sort of advancement in VR or AR versions of current games.
The Future of eSports and Mobile Gaming
In such rapidly growing industries, it’s extremely difficult to predict where we will be within the next decade or so. It does, however, seem that for the time being, competitive mobile gaming and competitive console/PC gaming will remain two separate entities – that’s not to say that one is better than the other. just that the games and experiences are slightly different.
Is it possible to play eSports on mobile devices? Of course. Is it possible for professional gamers like “Ninja” and “s1mple” to play at their highest level on mobile versions of games such as Fortnite and CS:GO? Highly debatable. Do competitive mobile versions of the aforementioned games translate well in the eSports arena when it comes to spectator viewing and the highest quality of play? For the moment, the answer seems to be a resounding no but who knows what the future holds for mobile eSports gaming?
