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Upstream: the mobile games streaming and esports digest – July 14 2022

PocketGamer.biz and Stream Hatchet break down the monthly stats on mobile games making waves on streaming platforms and esports events

Upstream: the mobile games streaming and esports digest – July 14 2022

Each month, PocketGamer.biz and Stream Hatchet break down the impact of mobile games and esports on streaming platforms; the ebb and flow of the most popular titles including Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, and Clash Royale, and pioneering newcomers; and how they’re reaching their audience.

This month, a newcomer bursts into the top 10 most watched titles, powered almost entirely by a single platform.

While the top 10 titles are typically an immoveable stronghold, June viewing figures has caused a significant shift towards the lower half of the rankings, with Standoff 2, the Axelbolt published and developed FPS, edging it straight to number eight, bypassing Brawl Stars and bumping Wormate.io off the rankings entire.

Towards the top of the rankings, PUBG Mobile and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang continues to jostle to pole position, with Mobile Legends coming ahead in June. League of Legends: Wild Rift saw a considerable increase in viewership, by 33.8 per cent, but we'll loop back to this shortly...

Viewers watched around 2.2 million hours of Standoff 2, although discounting the clear lead from streamer Tictac, it is worth nothing how the second-to-fifth most watched streamers had very even viewership. Unsurprisingly, these are YouTube streamers – and previous Upstream columns have noted how Facebook and YouTube viewerships of mobile games far exceeds Twitch – but, irregularly, almost 95 per cent of Standoff 2 viewership was from YouTube.

No seismic shifts on preferred platforms. However, last month, Facebook Gaming held a clear lead over YouTube and Twitch's mobile viewership. But while Twitch continues to decline, dropping from 12.8 per cent to 10.7, YouTube and Facebook have all but levelled out at around 45 per cent.

You can see why League of Legends: Wild Rift experienced such an increase – the Icons Global Championship esports event in Singapore saw over two million hours watched, just under half of Wild Rift's total of 4.2 million through the month.

While there was a slight dip in overall mobile games streaming hours watched, mobile esports saw a 20 per cent jump, with almost 42 million hours watched.

To conclude, Stream Hatchet took a detailed look at mobile esports teams, noting that:

  • Talon esports’ Arena of Valor team had the most hours watched with 2.2 million
  • However, V Gaming, a Vietnam PUBG Mobile team, brought in the highest average viewership with 196,000 average concurrent viewers
  • Bacon Time, a Thai esports org, has teams in the PUBG Mobile, Arena of Valor, and Garena Free Fire spaces. Last month, they garnered two million hours watched
Editor

Former editor of PocketGamer.biz, Khai can also be found on Vice, Star Trek, and in numerous scientific journals and publications.