Top 5 Best Mobile Esports Games in 2022
Esports is taking off in a massive way. The industry is poised to reach an overall worth of over $2 billion in 2024, and professional esports players regularly earn salaries to rival those of other professional athletes. Esports is even being considered as an Olympic discipline, although there’s still some resistance from more traditionally-minded members of the Olympic committee on that matter. In any case, it’s fair to say that esports is absolutely huge, and nowhere is that more true than in the mobile gaming space.
If you’ve played mobile games, you might even know that there’s a huge market for esports on smartphones and tablets, and there are lots of games that accommodate that market. You can even bet on esports via online casinos, with many offering odds and the opportunity to place wagers on your favourite mobile esports titles. You can check out some casino reviews if you’re looking for somewhere to bet on esports, but in the meantime, let’s talk mobile gaming. Here are the 5 best mobile esports games out there right now.
1. Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor
If you haven’t heard of Honor of Kings, then you’ve almost certainly heard of Arena of Valor. Honor of Kings is the most profitable mobile game in the world; it was the first game of its kind to cross the $10 billion barrier and continues to rake in a huge amount of money despite not technically being available in Western territories. There are some differences in Arena of Valor, which is the Western version of the game, but both of them are excellent mobile MOBAs that are also played as esports by professional gamers. MOBAs are purpose-built to attract an esports audience, and that’s no less true of Honor of Kings. You can check it out yourself on smartphone ecosystems or Nintendo Switch.2. League of Legends: Wild Rift
The first ever MOBA was released back in 2003 as a mod for the popular real-time strategy game Warcraft III. That MOBA mod spawned both Defense of the Ancients (now known as Dota) and League of Legends, and now, League of Legends has given rise to Wild Rift, the mobile version of the game. As soon as it was released, it was an immense esports hit, owing largely to its accessible mobile controls, wide champion pool, and gorgeous graphics. If you love League and you’re looking for a more bite-sized version of the game, then you could do a lot worse than Wild Rift, which is just about to close out its first ever esports season. We’re sure there will be many more!3. Call of Duty: Mobile
Here’s a fun fact for you: the Call of Duty: Mobile 2021 World Championship final racked up 428,000 hours watched, with almost 57,000 peak viewers. Those stats aren’t too shabby, and Call of Duty: Mobile easily justifies its esports audience with sharp, smooth controls, lots of choice, and a huge amount of content to unlock. You can give this game a try on your Android or iOS device, and it won’t cost you a penny; we’d strongly recommend doing so, because it’s an excellent mobile first-person shooter experience that doesn’t compromise on quality for being portable. Choose between the advanced and simple control setups, pick your loadout, and get ready to compete with players around the world.4. PUBG Mobile
With millions of hours watched around the world and prize pools of up to $6 million, it’s fair to call PUBG Mobile an esports titan. PUBG: Battlegrounds is available across a wide variety of platforms, but Korean owner Krafton has elected to focus largely on the mobile edition when it comes to esports. That doesn’t mean the game is any less compelling than its bigger console and PC counterpart, though; it’s still every bit the hardcore battle royale you know and love, complete with gear drops, realistic gameplay (to a certain extent, at least), and regular updates adding plenty of new content. If you want to begin your mobile esports gaming journey, then you could do a lot worse than PUBG Mobile.5. Magic: The Gathering
If you’ve got geeky friends, you’ve probably heard of Magic: The Gathering. You might even have played the physical version yourself. In essence, it’s a combat-based card game based around resource management and deck optimisation, and the mobile version transposes what can sometimes be an unwieldy game to the efficient, clean space of a smartphone screen. You might not immediately think of Magic: The Gathering when you consider esports on mobile, but that would be a mistake; the esports scene for this game is actually pretty big, commanding prize pools of $1 million at the biggest events. This is a game that takes consummate skill, strategy, and observational nous to win, so if you prefer something more cerebral than the usual reflex-based MOBAs or shooters, this is definitely one to check out.Like casino games, Mobile esports is on the rise, and we’re expecting to see more and more games take up the mantle of esports contenders on smartphones as we go. Of course, we’re bound to have overlooked or missed a couple of major mobile esports games, so which ones do you think should be on this list? What mobile game do you hope takes off in a big way as an esport in the future? Let us know!