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Immortals builds smartphone esports team for Arena of Valor
Team aiming for Arena of Valor World Cup in the US
This article originally appeared on ABACUS
One of the world’s top esports organizations is getting into smartphone games.
Immortals says it signed players to compete for a slot in the Arena of Valor World Cup in Los Angeles this summer. The roster is led by Assassin Dave -- who played with Team Liquid in Tencent’s inaugural Arena of Valor International Championships. The other members will be announced later.
Esports is currently dominated by PC and console games. Immortals already owns teams that compete in games like Dota 2 and Super Smash Bros. With Arena of Valor, Immortals is betting on a growing interest in mobile games.
Even the hottest PC games are trying to cash in on the momentum. Just this month, Epic Games announced it is introducing a mobile version of Fortnite. And Tencent launched PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in China on smartphones before the official PC version.
Arena of Valor -- a Western adaptation of Tencent blockbuster Honor of Kings -- debuted in the US just three months ago, and will arrive on the Nintendo Switch later this year.
In China, the game has been a hit since 2015, having reached more than 200 million players -- over four times what Pokémon Go had at its peak. It’s also one of the most popular titles being streamed on Chinese platforms Douyu and Huya.
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