Top Mobile Gaming Esports of 2023

Loading

While traditional PC esports set viewership records in 2023, mobile gaming continued the growth and expansion of its large esports scene. Mobile gaming took a step back in recent years when India, a large potential market for mobile gaming, banned many apps citing security concerns. Game developers are working hard to create adaptations of their titles to reenter the Indian market, and some game developers already have their adaption finished and a serious audience.

Viewership statistics from Chinese live streaming platforms are unable to be included in this article, due to the unreliability of the publicly available data. Viewership of Chinese-language broadcasters on other live streaming platforms is included.

With mobile gaming returning to India, 2024 has the potential to be a seriously successful year for the mobile gaming industry, including the esports sector. Before looking to the industry's future, let’s look back at 2023 and see which of the many mobile gaming esports disciplines were the cream of the crop. For this ranking, we collated the Hours Watched (watch time) of mobile gaming esports tournaments for each discipline. 

Most Watched Mobile Esports Games

#5 - Battlegrounds Mobile India (26.8M Hours Watched) 

Battlegrounds Mobile India was the fifth-most watched mobile game in esports of the year, despite being an essentially monoregional title. The Indian market has massive potential for the mobile gaming esports scene, especially as many game developers are reentering the market in the upcoming years, more on this below.

With 26.81M Hours Watched, the Indian adaptation of PUBG could achieve only 5th on this ranking. Many mobile gaming esports are heavily supported by one or two specific countries, such as Vietnamese viewership for Arena of Valor, but Battlegrounds Mobile India is truly one of a kind at the moment. The mobile gaming esports discipline competes with and outranks many other popular mobile gaming disciplines, and all this with only one region to support it.

#4 - Free Fire (38.8M Hours Watched) 

Free Fire was hugely popular a couple of years ago, but the title has been slowly losing viewership year after year since 2021. Although the game ranks 4th among mobile gaming esports in 2023, Free Fire was the only esports discipline in this ranking to lose viewership compared to 2022: Free Fire garnered 50M Hours Watched in 2022. Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam are all critical regions for the viewership of Free Fire, but one region is not in play at the moment: India. 

The Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore tournament reached 5.4M Peak Viewers, becoming the at-the-time most popular esports event, both traditional PC and mobile gaming, ever. A key audience which helped this event reach the heights it did was the Hindi-speaking demographic. Less than a year later, India banned Free Fire, amongst other apps, amidst national security concerns. 

Garena is hard at work on a version of the game which can be compatible with the Indian market, and it's not far away. Free Fire India was reported to be scheduled for a late 2023 release, but this did not pan out. Garena is currently working on rolling out this title for the Indian market, and depending on its success this might entirely revitalise the esports scene of Free Fire.

#3 - Arena of Valor (111.4M Hours Watched) 

The third-most watched mobile gaming esports discipline of the year was Arena of Valor, which garnered 111.39M Hours Watched throughout its various esports events in the year, roughly 7M more than the previous year. Critically, we have also included the viewership for Honor of Kings. Arena of Valor is an international adaptation of Honor of Kings, a Chinese MOBA title which is incredibly popular in mainland China. The game developers are planning to totally separate these versions into two separate games in the upcoming months, as Honor of Kings is officially launching an international version in February. 

The Arena of Valor Premier League 2023 was the most watched Arena of Valor event of the year, garnering 27.39M Hours Watched, which set both peak viewership and total watch time records for an Arena of Valor event. The tournament is a mid-season major event for the Arena of Valor competitive scene, and with a $500K prize pool, it was one of the largest events of the year for the discipline. Honor of Kings events, such as the Honor of Kings International Championship 2023, feature monstrously large prize pools. The International Championship 2023 tournament had $10M up for grabs, although viewership statistics are low as very few broadcasters outside of Chinese live streaming platforms covered the event.

#2 - PUBG Mobile (135.2M Hours Watched) 

PUBG Mobile was the second-most watched mobile gaming esports discipline of the year, with over 135.16M Hours Watched collected throughout 2023. The mobile gaming version of PUBG has totally eclipsed the original game, receiving far more attention for its esports scene than the original PC game. Compared to 2022, PUBG Mobile recorded 18% more Hours Watched through its esports scene in 2023.

Not only was this game one of the most watched mobile gaming disciplines of the year, but it was also the singular most watched battle royale esports discipline of the year, more information is available in our dedicated piece on battle royales.

Also read: Most Watched Battle Royale Esports Disciplines of 2023

Although PUBG Mobile and Arena of Valor are two mobile gaming disciplines, they attract many different audiences. Arena of Valor is hugely popular in Vietnam, and of course, Honor of Kings in mainland China, but PUBG Mobile attracts a more global audience. PUBG Mobile receives more attention from Indonesian demographics, a huge market for mobile gaming titles, but also from Spanish-speaking countries and the Middle East.  KRAFTON and Level Infinite, the game’s publishers, have made considerable efforts to hold global series, introduce new and exciting content to the esports scene, and develop this international and diverse audience.

The most watched PUBG Mobile tournament of the year was the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2023 event, which received 31.32M Hours Watched. PUBG Mobile did benefit from hosting two Global Championships during 2023: the tail-end of the 2022 event took place in 2023, including the highly watched Playoffs stage. This boosted the viewership of the discipline, as the most prestigious event of the year contributed twice to the total 2023 viewership.

#1 - Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (530.2M Hours Watched) 

The most watched mobile gaming esports discipline of the year was none other than Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. ML:BB is constantly pushing the boundaries of mobile gaming, reaching new viewership heights, breaking records, and attracting millions of spectators every year. In 2023, the ML:BB recorded 530.16M Hours Watched for its esports scene.

Similarly to PUBG Mobile, ML:BB benefited from both the M4 World Championship and the M5 World Championship being hosted in 2023, two of the top five most watched events of the year. The game recorded 60.7% more HW in 2023 than the previous year, but it does owe some of this to the dual world championships hosted in 2023.

The most watched event of the year for ML:BB was the MPL Indonesia Season 12, a singular season of the regional professional league for Indonesian competitors. The event garnered over 116.7M Hours Watched, which made it the most watched mobile gaming esports tournament ever. Indonesia and the Philippines are the two most important regions for ML:BB viewership and Indonesia is the slightly larger of these two. 

Indonesian-language viewership does contribute to other mobile gaming disciplines, such as PUBG Mobile, but Mobile Legends: Bang Bang can be considered a sort of national mobile gaming title for the region. The Indonesian regional league for ML:BB can outperform international world championship events for the discipline, thanks to this sizeable and passionate fanbase of the esports discipline.

Although Free Fire and PUBG Mobile both increased their viewership compared to 2022, Mobile Legends was a step ahead. Compared to 2022, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang garnered 200M more Hours Watched in 2023. This immense growth comes during a time when many traditional Western esports disciplines are struggling to find their footing in a post-COVID industry. 

The gap between Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and other mobile gaming esports disciplines is vast. The MOBA title is truly the beating heart of the industry at the moment, although as titles move into the Indian market this may change. With so many exciting developments coming for the mobile gaming industry in 2024, the esports sector is surely going to evolve along with it. 

Two esports disciplines worthy of honourable mentions in this ranking are Teamfight Tactics and Brawl Stars. Teamfight Tactics is an autobattler developed by Riot Games and the game’s esports scene is currently flourishing. After receiving high viewership in 2019 thanks to Twitch Rivals events, TFT has taken a step back from these community events to focus on developing the viewership for its esports scene. Peak viewership, prize pools, and total tournaments: TFT grew in all of these areas in 2023 and it doesn’t look to be slowing down.

Brawl Stars is a MOBA title developed by Supercell, the game developer behind Clash Royale and Clash of Clans. The game is popular among Brazillian, European, Japanese, and other regional audiences. In 2023, Brawl Stars saw more events and tournaments hosted than ever before, but its viewership and prize pools did not follow suit. Despite hosting double the tournaments held in 2022, the prize pool total for the year stagnated and in terms of peak viewership the discipline lost viewers. Brawl Stars is a young and evolving esports discipline, and it still has time to bounce back and enjoy a successful 2024.

Mobile gaming esports are wildly popular, and each year they only seem to increase their viewership. It can be hard to stay on track of all the trends and ongoings of the esports scene, but Esports Charts presents reliable and objective metrics to track development, growth, and trends within the scene. Stay on top of the 2024 mobile gaming esports industry with Esports Charts.