If mobile eSports is going to go big globally, it will have to go big in China.

It's still early days there, but one promising sign is the announcement of the China Mobile eSports Games competition (CMEG).

Sponsored by strategic partner, Android PC emulation outfit Koplayer, regional tournaments kicked off in March and will conclude in July.

Games being played at CMEG include CrossFire: King Shootout, Vainglory, The King of Fighters 97 and King of Glory, which is Tencent's top mobile alternative to League of Legends.

Growing fast

The CMEG itself is also backed by the General Administration of Sports, a branch of the Chinese Government, and Datang Telecom.

The widespread recognition and promotion of eSport as a sport by the Chinese government began with the establishment of an official eSport body in 2009.

According to Newzoo, eSports is already big business in China, with an "estimated audience of 82 million people throughout 2015".

And even with mobile games, the rise of eSports is shaping the market.

Newzoo also reckons that out of the top 100 grossing mobile games, 24 of them in the Android stores and 19 in the iOS store are considered eSports titles, out of which 30% and 39% respectively are MOBA titles.

Over half of all these games are published by Chinese giant Tencent, with NetEase being the #2 publisher.