November saw three massive esports tournaments take place in China. In fact, all three were on the same weekend, but you may be surprised at which one was the largest.
No, it wasn’t IEM Chengdu, which attracted over 770,000 Counter-Strike 2 fans online. And no, it wasn’t even the League of Legends World Championship, which had 18,000 in-person attendees and peaked at 6.7 million in viewership.
It was actually the Honor of Kings King Pro League (KPL) Grand Finals, which had over 62,000 attendees at the Bird’s Nest (the same stadium which hosted the Olympic Games in 2022). This event set the world record for the largest live attendance in esports tournament history.
And yes, it’s a mobile game.
Mobile esports are bigger than you think
Image credit: Tencent
While we often think of League of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2 when we hear “largest esports scenes,” that ignores the phenomenon of mobile esports.
Over in China, the KPL has become a cultural movement. When this author flew into Beijing to watch the Grand Finals, I was shocked by the size of the stadium and the sheer number of viewers. But what truly underlined the impact of Honor of Kings was the scale of the fandom. Thousands of fans were lined up to get photos with cutouts of the players, they attended fan events all weekend, they collected playing cards of the competitors.
Honor of King’s has placed noteworthy focus on localisation and community. While many esports focus on streaming and online gaming, Honor of Kings has champions inspired by countries with large fanbases and activations that inspire gamers to play together. This has carried over into the esports scene as well, with publisher Tencent putting a lot of emphasis on attending not just tournaments but events and viewing parties.
I was able to check out JD Gaming’s home arena, which featured not only a substantial tournament area but also a gym, strategy rooms, practice rooms and even a sick bay for JD Gaming’s teams. I also went to Weibo Gaming’s venue, which basically acts as a fan community hub, with stores, activations and a large room for watch parties with thousands of seats.
“With a home venue and home city, there will be a steady local audience, and then that will give rise to consumption as well as tourism locally,” said King Pro League’s Operations Manager Zhong Zhuang. “Second, it gives a stronger sense of belonging and city pride for fans and also citizens.
“Also, this leads to higher loyalty of the fans in a certain city. Third, it expands the commercial value because it can better connect the local governments with the clubs and teams, so the local government can have more financial support for the teams.”
Image credit: Tencent
But it’s not just China where Honor of Kings is growing rapidly. Other countries all around Asia, like the Philippines, are noticing the ravenous fandoms and passionate crowds in their own cities.
Marlon Marcelo, the Executive Director of the Philippines Esports Federation, told me that HoK is the next big esport the country is considering.
“The government is closely examining [esports]. Everyone knows esports is a sport of youth. But there are some barriers. Some adults see esports as a niche sport. Just gaming, not responsibility. It’s old stuff, but the stigma is still there,” Marcelo said.
This move would make sense, as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) already boasts a large following. In fact, the top Filipino players have displayed such talent in mobile games that Team Liquid took notice, signing an all-Filipino MLBB roster.
While compiling a feature on Team Liquid’s focus on mobile gaming I spoke to Daniel Santoso, who runs Team Liquid’s Indonesian and Philippines esports scenes: “Seeing the explosive growth in the fanbase and viewership in regions like Southeast Asia really turned my cautious optimism into firm belief. The dedication of fans and the increasing major esports organisations made it clear that mobile esports was here to stay.”
The rise of mobile esports makes sense
Games like Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Free Fire and PUBG Mobile are rapidly growing their fanbases in Asia and South America. What has made mobile gaming explode onto the scene?
Accessibility is perhaps the key factor. These games don’t need a top of the line PC setup to run. In fact, they don’t even require the latest phones. Countries where gaming PCs are out of reach for many citizens can still play games on their mobile devices with ease, allowing fanbases to grow wildly – and when games have extensive playerbases it creates optimal conditions for an accompanying esports scenes to thrive.
Other regions may not be far behind. While the United States and Europe aren’t clear hotbeds for mobile esports right now, studies show that 63% of smartphone users in the US play mobile games at least three times a week. While there’s some truth to there being a stigma in these regions around mobile games being “casual”, the massive rise of mobile esports elsewhere is hard to ignore.
I don’t believe that America and Europe will ever become as obsessed with mobile esports as other parts of the world, but I think mobile esports will keep growing everywhere else. And other countries and organisations will start to get curious – see Team Liquid jumping into the fray. And as more esports organizations take on teams from Southeast Asia and compete in mobile games, the more fans from all over the world will check it out.
Just don’t expect the playing cards.
