Clash Royale tournaments held throughout 2017 garnered a combined total of 1.3 million viewing hours making it the most viewed mobile esport of the year.
The figure comes from Newzoo's new report on "The Role of Mobile in Esports". The report studies mobile games and their place in esports, both in the West and in Asia.
The report estimates that the overall esports market generated $660 million in revenues during 2017. This represents a 33.9% growth year-on-year.
Mobile esports still only makes up a small amount of that market. PC esports events accrued 405 million viewership hours in Europe and North America in 2017, while mobile esports scored just two million hours, largely from Clash Royale and Vainglory.
Bigger in Asia
Clash Royale held the largest mobile esports of the West in 2017 with its Crown Championship World Final. It attracted 5,000 live spectators and 122,000 viewing hours on Twitch.
However, there is a much larger opportunity in Asia, particularly with casual games. The main casual esports title is Giant Network's Battle of Balls, which has accumulated over 400 million downloads worldwide.
As an esport, it has similarly excelled. Its 2016 Battle of Balls Professional League Final attracted 13,000 live spectators and 3.6 million viewers across various Chinese streaming services.
Looking to the future, Newzoo predicts that the Western esports scene will thrive largely in amateur competitions, like the open-to-all Clash Royale Crown Championship tournament. Asia, meanwhile, will grow more rapidly as it is a mobile-first region for many developers and players.
