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Mobile esports games earned $15.3 billion in 2018

Over 51% of China’s domestic games market was grossed by mobile titles.

Mobile esports games earned $15.3 billion in 2018

Last year mobile esports games grossed $15.3 billion, according to a report from Niko Partners.

China alone was said to have generated $5.6 billion, while a further $450 million came from Greater Southeast Asia. Esports titles on PC grossed a total of $16.1 billion, 40 per cent of which was earned in China.

More than 2.53 billion people choose to play all games on mobile devices, while PC and console have one billion and 500 million users respectively worldwide.

Mobile esports

In 2018, the entire domestic games market in China grossed $15.6 billion, over 51 per cent of which was earned by mobile titles. It represents around 25.7 per cent of global mobile games revenue.

Mobile esports titles represented 25.2 per cent of the total mobile games market worldwide.

For the first time, in 2018 mobile esports games were featured in the top 10 titles for prize pools. Pro and amateur tournaments had prize pools worth $25.3 million in 2018 and this is expected to rise to $30 million in 2019.

Honor of Kings was the top grossing mobile esport title worldwide, with Monster Strike and QQ Speed sitting in second and third place respectively. Two Supercell titles close out the top five earning esports games on mobile, Clash Royale and Clash of Clans.

The top earning PC esports title was League of Legends, grossing $1.9 billion a drop of $0.2 billion year-on-year. However, Honor of Kings earned $2.51 billion on mobile, with an increase of $0.1 billion.

Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.