Level Up Your Mobile eSports Payment Options with Carrier Billing

The eSports market was valued at $2,008.4 million in 2021 and is expected to see a CAGR growth of 21.9% between 2022 – 2030 (Grandview Research). eSports has quickly become a key market segment in the gaming industry, and, as we can see, is expected to grow over the next 8 years. According to the article by Grandview Research, several factors have attributed to this growth, including; increased investment in live streaming, greater audience reach, increased engagement and improved league structures. Further supporting market growth is the adoption of eSports in colleges and universities as competitive teams, moving beyond the traditional team sports we’d expect, as well as millennials considering professional gaming as a legitimate career option (Grandview Research). As expected, continued growth brings the emergence of new trends and developments within the market, which in turn potentially opens doors for carrier billing.

Mobile eSports

One new trend that would be of interest to the carrier billing market is mobile eSports, which was highlighted as a trend to watch for 2022 by Newzoo. In their article, Newzoo writes, “Mobile eSports has taken the market by storm, following years of console and PC titles dominating” and that this segment will continue to grow as “the biggest mobile publishers fight for dominance”.This is supported by a report published by Statista, which states that mobile eSports revenue is expected to grow to almost $1.15 billion in 2025.

Factors Encouraging Growth

The article from Newzoo attributes the growth of mobile eSports to low barriers to entry. This, of course, cannot exist without other contributing factors, such as; the use of smartphones across many global markets, roll out of 5G and accessibility to robust, consistent internet connections (Newzoo). Each of these factors provides users with a gate to the eSport genre, therefore helping users to access this gaming format.

Regional Growth

Whilst the popularity of mobile eSports is rising, regular eSports remain dominant in western countries, whereas the mobile counterpart has taken over in the remaining markets (Abios Press). China is expected to hold the largest market share by 2028, with the largest eSports audience by 2025 (Statista). Furthermore, eSports Insider notes that South East Asia (SEA) is another key region for mobile eSports, where they have been included in the official medal events for the 2022 Asian Games!

In addition to Asia, Latin America has recently become one of the most prosperous areas for mobile eSports (eSports Insider). In 2021 the LBFF (Liga Brasileira de Free Fire) partnered with Santander to launch a fantasy game based on the competition (eSports Insider). Although successful the Latin American region is still a growing market and it will be interesting to see how this develops in the future.

How is this an opportunity for carrier billing?

Carrier Billing is not a new player in the mobile eSports market, with platforms like Gizer already offering carrier billing through SLA Digital. Mobile games are typically free to access, there are various in-game purchases available to help upgrade your avatar, and their loadout/skills/equipment to remain competitive with the other users. These in-app purchases would then be charged to the user’s mobile phone bill via carrier billing.

Mobile payments via carrier billing are a fast, secure payment alternative for gamers. With carrier billing, you don’t need a credit or debit card, which is useful in markets that have a high population of unbanked people, such as Brazil, as payments are taken from a pre-paid or post-paid bill. This could give potentially more people entry to the mobile eSports market, enabling them to enter competitions and tournaments. For more information on carrier billing and how it could be used for your eSports service contact us today.