The eSports company Skillz says its run rate for mobile eSports has now hit more than 0 million for the year.
The company provides the Skills platform, which allows any mobile game on iOS and Android to be turned into a game you can play for cash, prizes, or points. It also enables eSports tournaments for games that integrate the platform.
In the first quarter of 2017, the company had 3 million new users and higher player engagement, said Andrew Paradise, CEO of Skillz, in an interview with GamesBeat.
“The technology and concept of eSports on mobile devices is shifting in the market,” said Paradise. “Mobile gaming keeps growing at crazy rates. It is now half of the total gaming market, but it was less than a fifth in 2012 when we started.”
Skillz reported revenue of $54 million in 2016, up 170 percent from $20 million in 2015.
“Every six months or so, the projections are growing,” Paradise said. “The speed with which eSports is growing in mind-blowing.”
In 2014, Skillz awarded 8 percent of all eSports prizes, with that figure increasing to over 21 percent in 2015, GamesBeat said. The company initially projected it would award 30 percent of prizes in 2016, but the figure came in at more than 46 percent of all eSports prizes.
According to GamesBeat, the Skillz user base has grown by more than 32 percent to 11.9 million since June. Skillz also increased its number of female players from 49 percent of the company’s user base in June 2016 to 53 percent today.
“You see more casual games adding eSports,” said Paradise. “People compete in higher levels, and they are spectated. It’s like the birth of television or the NFL launching in 1919. You see some of the same kind of changes in content.”
