Category: Business

Are mobile esports the new/next big thing?

The backlash that Blizzard endured after their Diablo Immortal announcement fueled the never-ending debate about mobile gaming, and as an extension of it, mobile esports. We have witnessed the birth and rise of the mobile platform as a serious contender in esports events, even though it is still considered as inferior by many. But nowadays, those mobile devices that follow us along everywhere we go are pure technology condensed, and video game editors would be foolish not to make good use of this new platform.
Especially considering that mobile gaming now represents the majority of the global video games market, with 51% of the expected $137.9 Bn to be made in 2018 (Source: Newzoo).

We have seen games adapted to fit the phones, with Fortnite, PUBG and Hearthstone coming to mind immediately, and some native mobile games like Clash Royale grab a fair share of the attention lately, with online tournaments, official pro circuits and LAN events offering cash prizes that have nothing to be ashamed of in comparison to some of the big names of the industry.

ESWC PGW 2018 – Samsung Fortnite Mobile Tournament

And it’s not just about the professionals, these games present the huge advantage of being easily available, and playable by everyone, so there is no wonder that they represent a non-negligible part of the community tournaments organized this year. Fortnite, of course, leads the way, and its cross-platform gameplay makes it difficult to exactly know the portion of players enjoying the game on a mobile device, but things get clearer when you look at PUBG Mobile and Clash Royale, two games that are exclusive to mobile, and that have seen an incredible rise in numbers this year (on Toornament, PUBG Mobile went from not existing to Top 2 in just 6 months, only outdistanced by Fortnite!).

So that would be an understatement to say that we do believe in mobile gaming and mobile esports, given that ultimately, the players are the one making the calls, and it’s pretty obvious that the platform matters less than the quality of the game!

Use Case: Riot Games organizes the French Collegiate League with Toornament!

Riot Games is launching La Grosse Ligue (the Big League), the French League of Legends Collegiate League.
The League is built around the 12 French regions, with three tournaments per region, where teams are seeded based on their in-game rank. Each of the three Tiers (Baron, Dragon and Herald) boasts a different structure, that also depends on the number of participating teams in the region.

Here are all of the Grosse Ligue tournaments:

To accomplish this, Riot Games chose to trust Toornament for our wide array of structures, and flexibility of our points system to accommodate their specific rules. We built a custom registration tool for teams to apply and provide scholarship certification, and more than 500 teams across the country answered the call. The teams were then imported in their respective tournaments using the Toornament API.

Thanks to the integration with the League of Legends Tournament Codes, the matches can now be played seamlessly by the players, with results automatically reported to the platform.

“Our goal at Riot Games France is to create local solutions that resonate with the French audience, and given France’s complex tertiary educational system, we needed to create a highly modular and flexible tournament system to answer those needs. We entered into the production stage with some trepidation, as we believed that implementing the format was not something that was easy to solve.
However, Toornament was able to provide the perfect product that we were looking for to create an amazing tournament experience for French university students.”
– Howon Lee, Esports Lead at Riot Games

The first matches were held on the 7th of November, and the League is bound to last several weeks, where the competition will move to the national level, with the best teams competing for prizes against the best teams from the other regions.

Here is the trailer for the competition:

Find all results on Toornament, and on the Grosse Ligue official website!

Use Case: PSG Esports International ’18 Coverage Page

The PSG.LGD team came to us with a simple, yet challenging task: they needed a way to feature their sponsors during the International 2018.
We offered to create for them a One-Page to gather all relevant information about the team and their performance in the tournament, all while showcasing their sponsors.

The PSG.LGD TI2018 Coverage Page was made possible thanks to our coverage of the competition and the Toornament API, which allowed for the full automation of the page to avoid mistakes and delays:

psg-lgd-coverage

If you are interested in talking to us about getting one of your own

Evolution of esports prize money between 2015 and 2018

3 years ago, we published on this very blog an infographics on the Esports Economy, and especially the prize moneys awarded in the tournaments of the top esports titles.
It’s time to take stock of the situation, and see where we are at regarding tournament prize moneys.
Find a new interactive infographics, with the most up-to-date data available, along data compiled from 2015:

Use Case: How Toornament supported the Quakecon 2018

The Quakecon is a huge LAN party happening every year, with thousands of players and even more visitors. For an event of this scale to run smoothly, everything must be prepared and handled with care, and that’s why Quakecon called upon Toornament expertise and experience to help them. Continue reading “Use Case: How Toornament supported the Quakecon 2018”