The mobile esports industry has seen explosive growth in recent years, now standing toe-to-toe with top PC titles. A dominant leader has emerged, while other games continue to fight for a place in the spotlight. Though the 2024 rankings remained unchanged from the previous year, there's still plenty to discuss: most games experienced audience growth, and one title even doubled its live viewership within a year.
#5 — Battlegrounds Mobile India
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) launched in 2021 after PUBG Mobile was banned in India. While the release followed relatively soon after the ban, the game’s esports scene faced tough competition as rival titles gained ground and many Indian players moved on to other games.
Even so, BGMI’s esports ecosystem has steadily grown, with viewership numbers rising each year. By the end of last year, the total live watch time of its events increased by 45%, marking its most successful season yet.
The game’s biggest tournaments remain the Battlegrounds Mobile India Series and Pro Series, both offering the highest prize pools and drawing the largest audiences. Last year’s editions were the most popular to date, with the Pro Series setting a new esports record for BGMI, coming close to 500,000 Peak Viewers. The only event with a higher viewership was the Launch Party, which featured top content creators, making it a rather unique case.
#4 — Free Fire
Free Fire was one of the biggest winners after PUBG Mobile’s ban in India, with its 2021 season marking the game’s peak in esports viewership. At its height, the year-end tournament held the record for the most-watched esports event until Worlds eventually took the lead.
But in early 2022, Free Fire suffered the same fate: it was banned in India, dealing a major blow to its entire ecosystem. The game’s esports viewership took a significant hit, as Indian fans had been a crucial part of its audience. Since then, Free Fire has lost its status as the top mobile esports title.
Also read: Top 5 Most Watched Esports Titles of 2025
The past few years, however, have been a period of gradual resurgence. While it’s not yet ready to compete with the biggest names in the industry, its numbers are climbing again: 2024 alone saw an astonishing 119% increase in live viewership.
This surge was fueled by two key factors. First, Garena revamped the game’s tournament ecosystem, transforming the Free Fire World Series into a year-round structure. Instead of a single global event at the end of the year, the series now features multiple regional tournaments across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Brazil. While last year’s competitions didn’t set new peak concurrent viewership records, they saw increased average engagement, leading to a significant rise in total watch time.
The second major factor was Free Fire’s inclusion in the Esports World Cup (EWC), a premier multi-discipline esports tournament. Beyond the value of regional competitions, the first half of the season now also serves as a qualification stage for the EWC, whose prize pool matches (and even slightly surpasses) that of the FFWS Global Final. In short, these tournaments have become more meaningful, helping to draw in a growing audience.
#3 — Arena of Valor
Arena of Valor may not have seen the explosive growth of BGMI or Free Fire, but it has steadily gained ground. Most notably, the game has come close to matching its biggest competitor (viewership-wise), PUBG Mobile.
Unlike other top mobile esports titles, AoV’s tournament structure remained largely unchanged last year. It was also left out of the Esports World Cup lineup, with Honor of Kings taking its place instead: the game that AoV is essentially an international adaptation of.
However, the biggest shift for AoV came in audience engagement, particularly in Southeast Asia. The game’s esports ecosystem is largely driven by viewers from Thailand and Vietnam, and both regions saw a surge in interest. Each country has its own major league, consistently drawing hundreds of thousands of viewers, a trend that extended to international competitions as well.
Following the global launch of Honor of Kings, some may have expected AoV’s esports scene to decline. Yet the game not only maintained its presence but even saw growth in key watch time metric. Now, with HoK further solidifying its position, all eyes are on AoV to see if it can continue this momentum in 2025.
#2 — PUBG Mobile
For nearly seven years, PUBG Mobile has been a dominant force in mobile esports, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon, even as competition in the space grows fiercer.
Among mobile games, PUBG Mobile arguably has the most well-developed global tournament ecosystem, covering all levels of play from amateur to professional, though MLBB is rapidly closing the gap in this regard. While its strongest foothold remains in Southeast Asia, where it enjoys immense popularity, the game is also expanding its presence in regions like North America, where mobile esports is still finding its footing.
Unlike its lower-ranked counterparts, PUBG Mobile saw a decline in viewership, but there’s a straightforward reason behind this: in 2023, there were two world championships (with the final stage of the 2022 event held in January), while in 2024, only one event took place. Nevertheless, the game once again secured second place among the most popular mobile esports titles and remained the top Battle Royale esports game for the fifth year in a row.
In the grand scheme of mobile esports, PUBG Mobile stands as one of the most influential and enduring titles. Its consistent ability to adapt, innovate, and engage a global audience has kept it at the forefront of the industry. The game’s return to the Esports World Cup lineup is more than just a recognition; it highlights PUBG's ongoing relevance and leadership in shaping the future of mobile esports. While competition continues to grow, PUBG Mobile remains a key player, offering a blueprint for success that other titles strive to follow.
#1 — Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) has long been a dominant force in the mobile esports landscape, and its reign only strengthened last year. The game’s inclusion in the Esports World Cup lineup was a significant endorsement from the esports industry’s biggest names. Even more impressive, MLBB welcomed some of the most renowned global esports organizations, including Team Spirit, Fnatic, and, most notably, Team Liquid, further cementing its status as a powerhouse in competitive mobile gaming.
Similar to PUBG Mobile, it’s not worth getting caught up in the fact that overall watch time numbers for 2024 were slightly lower than in 2023 (a result of the same issue that impacted Tencent’s title). What truly matters is the bigger picture: MLBB has firmly secured its place at #1 and shows no signs of relinquishing that top spot to competitors anytime soon.
MLBB has consistently set new viewership records, and 2024 was no exception, delivering yet another game-changing milestone. The standout moment? MPL Indonesia Season 14 shattered expectations, racking up over 117 million hours of watch time, the highest total ever for an MLBB tournament. This wasn’t just a major achievement for the game itself; it also became the most-watched event in all of mobile esports. Even more impressively, it now holds the title of the most-viewed non-international / regional tournament across the entire esports industry.
MLBB is set to strengthen its presence on the global esports stage this year, with powerhouse organizations like Twisted Minds, Natus Vincere, and Team Falcons already making moves into key regional leagues, likely just the start of a bigger trend. With its competitive scene more robust than ever, MLBB continues to elevate not just its own status but the entire mobile gaming ecosystem.
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