- Newzoo's $1.8 billion forecast for 2022 for the esports industry may be a bit of an understatement says The Esportz Network
- The publication cites various reasons as to why mobile gaming may be successful, including 5G, a more balanced demographics between male and female gamers and more
- Many mainstream studios
Mobile esports is still underestimated, says The Esportz Network, and companies are failing to factor it in when assessing the esports industry's potential.
Esports Network Expects Esports Growth Hit New Heights
The growth of the esports industry has been subject to careful analysis by analytical firms such as Newzoo. Yet, even Newzoo's estimate may be a little conservative, argues The Esportz Network, an industry website focusing on the latest developments in competitive gaming.
According to the publication, Newzoo may have not properly factored in the growth of mobile esports that has been steadily ramping up numbers. From PlayerUnknown's Battleground to Call of Duty, companies have been making good revenue on app downloads, player participation, and in-app purchases, known as microtransactions.
For the most part, Newzoo has crunched the numbers so far as in-game purchases, ticket and merchandise sales, and sponsorships and advertising goes, but that is not all. Esportz Network predicts that the future of esports will pivot around mobile.
Many games are already making the transition towards the sector. Riot Games revealed plans to launch Valorant as a mobile game and NetEase recently revealed a Valorant-like mobile shooter that was dubbed Project M, a reference to Valorant's code name during development.
League of Legends has gone mobile with Wild Rift, too, and Riot Games developers have said that so far as their mobile games go, Southeast Asia (SEA) seems to be their main focus for the time being. China is proving a particularly lucrative market, but penetration by foreign companies has been challenging.
For one, China gives priority to local developers. A few years back, the country issued new recommendations that criticized the overt display of sexuality in games such as Overwatch 2. Despite the saber-rattling, China has allowed most games to continue as intended.
Mobile Skill-Based Gaming Continues
While Newzoo has been focused mostly on the growth of esports driven by desktop computers, Esportz Network has evoked other indicators of mobile gaming's strong growth. Platforms such as Skillz may not be taken as traditional esports, since they pit players against each other in games such as Tetris, but Skillz has paid millions worth of prizes since it launched.
Esportz Network expects esports growth and real money value to beat Newzoo's prediction which posts the industry's overall worth at the end of 2022 at $1.8 billion. Conversely, Esportz Network expects this number to be closer to $2.5 billion.
The arguments put forth in support of this are understandable. Mobile gaming is a greater equalizer than PC and console gaming, for example. In fact, female mobile gamers already surpass their male counterparts with some 63% of the player base represented by women gamers.
Not only that, but mobile games and the potential to win from competitive events is already a driver of growth in places like SEA, India, and China where players associated gaming with mobile devices first. The penetration of 5G technologies is only allowing the quicker exchange of data, which in turn should boost the adoption of new games.
