10. Arena of Valor If there's one genre that's expertly navigated
the esport environment, it's the MOBA. And, that's exactly what Tencent got to do on the
mobile. Arena of Valor, a 5V5 game much like League of Legends, isn't the company's first
rodeo. In fact, they've amassed quite a success with their China-exclusive Honor of Kings.
To produce the same results in the Western market, they created, yes, Arena of Valor,
which enjoyed more than a third of the mobile esports viewership in 2018, according to escharts.com.
So, it's BIG big, and you can expect the same kind of grandeur in their events too. Especially
with their own esports league, Arena of Valor gets that brand of authenticity, complete
with analyst desks, casters, and fancy stages.
There's been plenty of tournaments so far, and their next International will be held
in Thailand this November. With some news of Tencent abandoning support for the arguably
better League of Legends Mobile, that might’ve contributed to its marginal playscore of 7.8
9. Mobile Legends While Arena of Valor was big in the West,
Mobile Legends is an example of a more localized phenomenon. It's still from China, though,
particularly Shanghai's Moonton Studios. Despite being in existence since 2016, Mobile Legends
hasn't exactly caught on in the West. That's probably not gonna happen any time soon, either.
Moonton has bumped heads with League of Legends' Riot Games after they sued Mobile Legends
for plagiarism, and ML's meta doesn't sit well for those in the west who are more inclined
to the balance in Arena of Valor and the OG mobile MOBA, Vainglory.
That said, Mobile Legend's influence can't be downplayed, with tournaments spanning Malaysia,
Indonesia, Thailand, and even some in Europe. All of these you can witness yourself in their
dedicated esports Youtube Channel, MLBB esports. There's definitely a lot of love out there
for this humble MOBA, and it sits comfortably in the mobile esports scene with a score of
7.87.
8. Shadowverse CCG One of the players in the collectible card
game scene, Shadowverse has carved a name for itself much like Hearthstone. And there's
plenty of similarities that bring them very close. Shadowverse CCG is also a casual serving
of the CCG formula. But, according to some, there's a lot more free-to-play generosity,
giving starters better chances of getting top tier with plenty of packs and a fairer
balance. And if you're into it, Shadowverse also has some of the more anime characters
and archetypes.
Their esports scene may be in the lower end of the mobile esports pie, but they're still
raking in huge numbers with their tournaments all over Europe and Asia. Just recently, they
even had the Shadowverse Open Contenders Cup which was livestreamed on their Cygames Esports
youtube account. The Shadowverse esports scene is definitely still going, although you may
not see from their playscore of 7.91.
7. Summoners War: Sky Arena There may have been a lot of doubts about
its viability as an esport in the beginning, but Summoners War has slowly climbed its way
up to being on the "forefront of the mobile competitions." No one else was more surprised
than their own developers, Com2US, who in an interview with gamesindustry, said that
they were shocked by the audience's reaction at Amazon's Mobile Masters.
One year later, Summoners War: Sky Arena is still positively thriving. At the time of
writing, there's Summoners War World Arena Championship Cups being played in Europe,
the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The competition comes with players strengthening their league
of monsters to battle it out with other talented strategists.
It's a lot like MOBA where you draft monsters into the arena and have opponents ban whichever
will ruin their chosen tactics most. Unexpectedly exciting, Summoners War: Sky Arena gets a
playscore of 8.16.
6. PUBG Mobile Now here's something a little more familiar
to those in the PC esports scene. PUBG exploded into the market, becoming one of the foremost
titles in the Battle Royale genre that invaded gaming for a long while.
Despite the downturn, PUBG remains a strong title in the mobile esports scene. There's
been a lot of criticism about PUBGs little bugs and quirks, but overall, it's still one
of the go-tos when it comes to realistic Battle Royale. Which is probably the reason for its
ongoing success.
Its esports scene doesn't stray too far away from its PC counterpart. It even has players
from well-known esports teams like Cloud9 which lend even more credence to its community.
Currently, there's a PUBG Mobile Club Open going on, all of which are streamed at the
dedicated youtube channel, PUBG Mobile esports with over 900 thousand subscribers and a prize
pool running in the upper then thousands.
It's not much, but it goes to show that the PUBG love lives on, and it has a playscore
of 8.25
5. Guns of Boom - Online PvP Action This one might be a little bit unfamiliar
for most, but it does make sense given all the positive feedback it got when it first
released back in 2017. Just recently, it even earned a place in our countdown of the 20
Best Android FPS games.
Weird name notwithstanding, Guns of Boom is one slick FPS beast and it slowly became one
of the premier titles on the mobile, especially for fans of Overwatch and Team Fortress. This
is reflected in their nascent esports scene that mostly grew in 2018. A lot of people
may dispute its pay to win and auto-shooting aspects, Guns of Boom continues to rise, with
many talented teams competing in their Seasonal Gods of Boom competitions.
Right now, their youtube channel is rife with cheers and recaps of their last esports league
in Cologne. On the flipside, it's also doing well as an individual, free-to-play game on
the Android, with a playscore of 8.31.
4. Hearthstone Who doesn't know Blizzard's popular card game?
Arguably one of the most recognized and entrenched esports scene on this list, Hearthstone on
Android definitely benefits from the game's cross-play capabilities. As such, its esports
scene isn't entirely a mobile experience, and whichever device you play on, it's still
the same game.
That being said, that only adds to the credibility and competitiveness of Hearthstone. If you're
good on the mobile, you're good at it everywhere. Hearthstone, though, has been getting a lot
criticism. And that was going on way before the very controversial incident involving
Blitzchung and his live Hong Kong protest.
Even as a free-to-play game, a lot of veteran card game players comment on how "expensive"
Hearthstone is. This means that competing at the professional level may require you
to break the bank. A lot of changes do seem to be underway for the coming season. It has
a playscore of 8.41.
3. Clash Royale Right after their massive success with Clash
of Clans, Supercell managed to replicate their achievement with this card-based strategy
tower defense. Other than replicating success, Clash Royale even paved the way to creating
an esports scene around it called the Clash Royale League. And, boy is it thriving.
While there are many teams vying for the crown, their best teams look like a highlight reel
of the best in the whole of esports. And, perhaps, that's best explained by the fact
that the mobile game made their debut with a million-dollar prize pool that's set to
get even bigger with this second season.
As of writing, there's an ongoing West Fall League that's currently in its fifth week,
and amassing views numbers of over 100,000. Even with just a devilish 666K subscriber
count, it's clear that the future is bright for this Supercell title which has a playscore
of 8.41.
2. Call of Duty®: Mobile Coming out just this October, this is the
most recent game on our list. Call of Duty: Mobile might still be settling in on the platform--its
launch has reportedly even been plagued with lags and bugs. But, with the wide reaches
of its parent franchise, many people are already speculating on its potential esports viability.
Within a week of its launch, it has amassed over 35 million downloads and over 2 million
dollars in microtransactions money. The reason behind its hotcake retail rate seems to be
its extensive 100 player battle royale mode that lets players compete as solo players,
or with teams of two and four.
With such a massive launch, the esports agenda is bound to come up soon. In fact, according
to toornament.com some of them have already sprung up. Right now, all we have is excitement
and its playscore of 8.75 to show us it ain't bad at all.
1. Clash of Clans Clash Royale has a way of testing individual
strategic skills. On the other hand, SUPERCELL's first outstanding success also has some esports
potential on its own, testing the skills of clans worldwide to defend their own in the
LEDs of large studios.
Starting out recently in February of this year, COC's Clan War Leagues have switched
to a brand new 5v5 format and enticing us all with a hefty million dollar prize pool.
Included alongside the superstars of the esports league, COC's scene is nothing to snub your
nose at.
On top of Town Hall clashes here and there, there's also the massive World Championship
qualifiers that will come to a head this October in Hamburg's ESL stage. It's definitely happening
for COC. Its got an esports scene going for it, and, considering its also an enjoyable
game on its own, its playscore of 8.86 earns its this well-deserved winning spot.