The competitive scene for Halo is set for a massive re-launch in 2018. With the full backing of the Electronic Sports League and Major League Gaming, we expect some much higher production values and broadcast quality compared to last year’s disastrous presentation, which left casual and hardcore fans alike extremely unhappy with the organizers.

This guide will outline how to watch Halo esports events online via your computer and mobile device ahead of the action, and where you can find the best live-streaming sites and video-sharing platforms to watch the Halo World Championship, either in real-time or when you get a proper chance to catch up.

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How to watch Halo esports competitions online

You can watch all Halo World Championship qualifiers, play-offs and finals for free via several live-streaming and video-sharing sites from the comfort of home.

Esports events like the HaloWC aren’t typically broadcast on television networks, but are instead live-streamed in real-time by tournament organizers. The coverage is uploaded directly to live-streaming sites like MLG.tv, Twitch.tv and YouTube, all of which specialise in esports and video game content.

All you need is an Internet connection and a computer or mobile device, and you can watch all HaloWC events uploaded on the organizer’s official channels, either live or after the fact.

Coverage for the HaloWC is provided by the official tournament organizers, Major League Gaming, in partnership with the Electronic Sports League, as well as sponsored by the developer and publisher of the Halo franchise 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios.

This year’s tournament has a more significant investment from all parties, and we’re expecting some much more impressive game stations, better venues and top-notch production quality.

What does it mean to live-stream Halo esports events?

Live stream or live-streaming is when a video-sharing site broadcast live coverage of a tournament and upload it on the Internet, allowing fans all over the world to watch the action in real-time or after the event is over.

The term is used heavily among video gaming and esports circles, so you would be forgiven for thinking it’s only associated with games. However, you can watch live-streams of many different types of video content.

The competitive gaming industry popularised the medium so much that live-streaming sites remain the primary consumption method to watch the latest esports, despite traditional television networks and premium cable channels in North America and South Korea are starting to broadcast their own esports content in the last few years.

In the case of Halo, the professional and competitive scene surrounding the game is not as popular as Dota 2 or League of Legends, so expect to only be able to watch Halo esports through sites like MLG and Twitch.

Below, we list the official live-streaming channels to watch Halo esports.

Where to watch Halo esports on Twitch

Halo has an official Twitch.tv channel run by 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios, the franchise’s developer and publisher, respectively.

With over 200,000 subscribers, the channel broadcasts and live-streams the latest Halo esports events held around the world, including the Halo World Championship. It also has full catalogues of all past Halo esports events, like the Halo Championship Series at Dreamhack, to watch at your convenience, without the need to sign up for an account.

The Electronic Sports League also has a Twitch channel dedicated exclusively for their Halo-sponsored events, and we fully expect the account to upload fresh footage for this year’s HaloWC.

Halo esports – Where to watch on Twitch

• Halo on Twitch – Official Channel
• Halo on Twitch – Electronic Sports League

Where to watch Halo esports on Mixer

Mixer is the official live-streaming platform owned by Microsoft, the umbrella company of Microsoft Studios, the publishers of the Halo franchise. As such, it’s only natural that the competitive Halo tournaments they are sponsoring will be live-streamed and hosted on their platform.

As much as gamers love to rag on Microsoft’s initiatives, Mixer has proven to be a pretty cool platform for watching video game and esports-related content, with the site regularly giving away free digital goodies such as full game codes just for watching content on the service.

Mixer lets you sign into your Microsoft or Xbox account to watch and rack up said rewards, and there’s a functional chat-bar on the side of every video to engage with the Halo esports community while watching the event in real-time.

While nothing has been announced for Halo World Championships specifically, we fully expect there to be some incentive or giveaway to tune in on Mixer. Halo is their baby, after all.

Halo esports – Where to watch on Mixer

• Halo on Mixer – Official Channel

Where to watch Halo esports on YouTube

YouTube is the most accessible and popular online video-sharing site in the world, so it’s no surprise competitive Halo coverage is offered there.

The official Halo Waypoint YouTube channel uploads footage of the Halo World Championship and past live-streams, in addition to new gameplay trailers and announcements.

There aren’t as many live-streams of Halo tournaments on there as other sources, so it’s best for fans who want to catch up on the action after the fact.

Halo esports – Where to watch on YouTube

• Halo Waypoint on YouTube – Official Channel

Where to watch Halo esports on Major League Gaming

Wait, what about Major League Gaming? They’re the sponsors right?

We were a little confused initially with the lack of a dedicated Halo esports live-stream or video section on the current incarnation of MLG.tv, the organization’s live-streaming platform. But over on Halo Waypoint, it has been confirmed MLG will broadcast and upload live-streams of all Halo World Championship events – qualifiers and finals series – on a special Halo-only hub on the MLG official website.

Keep this page bookmarked, as we will update this section with links once the HaloWC is closer to commencing.

How popular is Halo esports on live-streaming sites?

The latest stats for Halo esports viewership numbers came from Microsoft and Xbox, who confirmed the Halo World Championship 2017 Finals, broadcast and organized by the Electronic Sports League, attracted more than 13 million unique viewers and more than 10 million viewers who watched the tournanment live on Twitter via a special promotion.

At its peak, the HaloWC 2017 event captured more than 135,000 concurrent viewers across multiple live-streaming platforms and social media networks, including Beam, Facebook, Twitch and Twitter.

Those numbers were the highest ever for any Halo esports event, which was impressive given the controversy surrounding the low production quality and questionable venue fans complained about at the time. With Major League Gaming joining up with ESL to produce the 2018 HaloWC, we have more faith that it will be an amazing year to watch.

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Where can I bet on Halo esports tournaments?

Betting markets are not yet up for Halo World Championship qualifiers, but expect the best esports betting sites we have reviewed to take bets on all Halo esports events this year.

If you are reading our content from United States, our top-rated site for customers from your region to bet on competitive Halo tournaments is BetOnline. Claim exclusive bonuses just by signing up through EsportBet, which you can put towards your overall esports betting experience.

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Smite is one of the most successful free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video games to have transitioned into the esports circuit. Compared to industry titans like Dota 2 and League of Legends, it launched to modest success with less mainstream visibility, but has since organically grown its playerbase to over 14 million registered players.

The team at EsportBet think it’s about time people start paying serious attention to Smite’s competitive scene and the impressive way Hi-Rez Studios, its creators, have fostered its success. With million dollar prize-pools comparable to even League of Legends World Championships and The International, Smite esports is definitely worth watching these days.

Betting on Smite esports

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Almost all international esports betting sites offer basic moneyline/match winner betting markets on the Smite World Championships and the Smite Console World Championships.

The 2018 season wrapped up in early January and the two major Smite esports events won’t be back for a while.

However, with Hi-Rez Studios expanding the game significantly and more third-party organized events in the Smite professional circuit, we expect to see more Smite betting markets as the game increases in popularity in the near future. Keep this page bookmarked for when more betting markets open on the smaller leagues.

The basics of Smite

Smite’s core gameplay loop will be familiar to fans of the MOBA video game genre. Two teams of five players each begin at the opposite side of the arena in third-person perspective, at a starting place called the ‘Fountain’. Players take the role of mythological deities – gods, goddesses and other fantastic creatures – and clash on the virtual battlefield in intricate team-based combat, using abilities and strategies unique to your chosen character to gain a tactical edge.

Every Smite game allows players to choose from around 90 gods across nine different pantheons, including Celtic, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Japanese, Mayan, Norse, and Roman. Every character you can play as is classed under five different roles, with around four unique abilities and a passive trait each.

• Assassin: Melee attacked gods using Physical Power to supplement their basic attacks and abilities. Usually faster than other classes and able to deal out quick damage.
• Guardian: Melee and ranged gods using Magical Power to pull of their basic attacks and abilities. Good on defense due to being able to tank damage better than other classes, but their damage output is lower.
• Hunter: Ranged gods using Physical Power for their basic attacks and abilities. Compared to other classes, they are more dependent on the use of items, as their standard attacks are their primary method of dealing damage.
• Mage: Ranged gods using Magical Power to enhance the effectiveness of their basic attacks and abilities. Can deal huge damage in short periods of time, but are weaker and take heavier than other classes.
• Warrior: Predominately melee gods using Physical Power to guide their basic attacks and abilities. Not a specialist in any particular field, but with no huge weaknesses either.

Every player has a certain amount of gold to buy items at the beginning of the match, enhancing their character’s abilities or granting passive bonuses. The start of the match is also used to determine which player will cover which of the three continuous ‘lanes’ that run from either side of the map, and a steady lane defence is necessary to succeed in battle.

Each lane in Smite contains a A.I. controlled ‘Phoenix’ and defensive towers that are hostile to opposing players, and it’s up to each team to destroy the other’s Phoenixes. Players are also accompanied by minions, computer controlled allies that run along its designated lane and help destroy the opponent’s phoenixes and towers.

To secure the win in most game modes, one team must also destroy the Titans of Order and Chaos. These entities have regenerating health and devastating attacks that can kill unprepared players. Titans can only be killed once all enemy Phoenixes are downed, otherwise it will continuously recover its health and elude defeat.

High-level games are won using the best team composition and abilities based on the opponent. With successful battles enabling players to level up (to a maximum of level 20 per game), upgrade their gods in abilities, buffs and better minions, the longer the match lasts, the more intense the rush to the finish line becomes.

How is Smite different from other esports?

Smite stands out from the crowd in numerous ways. The first and most obvious is the third-person perspective it is played, as most other MOBAs like Dota 2 are played from an isometric, birds-eye perspective.

The game’s developers have also put in tremendous effort in keeping up the gods and mythology aesthetic, and with every new content update comes improvements to both the characters and environmental designs and asset quality. It’s a lot easier on the eyes than other MOBAs, and casuals can pick up on the gods theme a lot easier than some of the more complicated fantasy settings of comparable competitors like League of Legends.

Smite benefits from a much more accessible competitive circuit. Because Hi-Rez Studios, its creators, currently organized all esports tournament associated with the game, there aren’t multiple leagues and competitions run by third-party organizers which make keeping up with the action as daunting for potential new fans.

What is the Smite World Championship?

Since 2014, Hi-Rez Studios has organized the competitive circuit for Smite and run the Smite World Championship (SWC) to showcase the best talent on the world-stage.

Every years, Smite pro players join Hi-Rez professional leagues in teams of 5 and compete in online and offline competitions to receive ranking and an invitation to the Smite World Championship. Eight teams from all over the world, including China, Europe, North America and South America, are chosen from the qualifiers to compete in the finals.

There is also a separate tournament, the Smite Console World Championship (SCWC) that runs concurrently with the SWC every year to accomodate the best players across PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Smite made headlines for its inaugural tournament’s $2.6 million prize pool, which was the third-highest ever prize money recorded in esport at the time, only behind Dota 2’s The International. Since then, Hi-Rez Studios capped the total prize-money at $1 million for the SWC, so more prize money could be awarded during the regular qualifying season.

This year’s SWC and SCWC ran from January 3 – 7 in Atlanta, Georgia and awarded $787,000 and $150,000 in prize-pools, respectively. Two American esports organizations, eUnited and Myth Gaming, walked away with the top prizes.

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Where can I watch Smite esports events?

The best place to watch anything Smite esports is the official Twitch and YouTube channels of Hi-Rez Studios, its creator. The developer has quickly become one of our favourites in the industry from the immense amount of effort it is put into fostering a proper competitive community, with regular feedback, tons of game updates and video content, as well as proper coverage of all of its tournament events to accommodation both new and hardcore fans properly.

Best places to watch Smite esports

• Watch Smite esports on Twitch
• Watch Smite esports on YouTube

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Heroes of the Storm (HotS) is Blizzard Entertainment��s quiet achiever in the esports circuit with significant expansions planned for 2018. While not as popular in the mainstream consciousness as Dota 2 or League of Legends, it has developed an active professional gaming scene and now has multiple premier and major tournaments held in China, North America and South Korea – and esports betting sites have started to pay attention and offer regular betting markets.

Interested in learning more about the Heroes of the Storm esports space, where to watch matches live or how to place a bet on your favourite teams? This esports guide goes into detail about what you need to know – gameplay, maps, objectives, leagues, schedule – before watching or wagering on HoTS for real money online or on your mobile device.

Betting on Heroes of the Storm

Most major international esports betting sites offer betting markets on the biggest Heroes of the Storm esports tournaments.

HoTS’s competitive scene is still growing in popularity, so the demand is not there yet for online sportsbooks to take bets on tournaments outside of the official league run by Blizzard, the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship Circuit (HGC).

Thankfully, many of our favourites sites actively take moneyline/match winner wagers on HGC majors and premiers all-year round.

GGBet GGBet stands out among similar bookmakers by offering some of the best odds and bonuses catering to esports. Its web version and mobile-friendly site make it a breeze to bet on your favorite events. You can also watch the games live and place in-play bets, which is a huge benefit to betting with a dedicated esports betting operator. While it might be a big call, we think that GGBet might nearly be the best dedicated esports bookmaker that we have review. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 are the most popular titles right now. The platform also organizes and sponsors championships for video game enthusiasts.

BetOnline.ag North Americans don’t have an easy time when it comes to online sports betting but thankfully BetOnline fills that role perfectly, including for US esports fans. It has markets on all major games, including Heroes of the Storm, but sometimes can be late on posting odds for HGC events compared to others on this list. They make up for the tardiness with some lucrative Bitcoin and standard welcome bonuses you can claim upon sign-up to maximise your initial account balance and put substantial bonus money towards your esports betting on the site.

Pinnacle One of the most popular online sportsbooks when it comes to esports betting due to its special games hub and the fact that the guys who run it actually understand and appreciate the professional gaming circuit as a sport – with early markets and low mark-up on the odds. You can bet on Heroes of the Storm and tournaments for all other Blizzard properties – Overwatch, StarCraft, Warcraft – at Pinnacle.

Heroes of the Storm – esports overview

Heroes of the Storm is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA) centered around heroes from creator Blizzard Entertainment��s many other popular game franchises – Diablo, Overwatch, StarCraft, Warcraft – who are brought together by an unknown force to the Nexus, the gateway to 14 battlegrounds (maps) each game takes place in.

HoTS puts players in the role of a powerful hero with unique abilities, working together as part of a team to destroy the enemy��s base and complete objectives. Games are played 5 vs 5 and across a variety of different game modes, with over 74 characters to choose from:

• Diablo: Auriel, Azmodan, Cassia, Diablo, Johanna, Kharazim, Leoric, Li-Ming, Malthael, Nazeebo, Sonya, The Butcher, Tyrael, Valla, and Xul
• Overwatch: Ana, D.Va, Genji, Hanzo, Junkrat, L��cio, Tracer and Zarya
• StarCraft: Abathur, Alarak, Artanis, Blaze, Dehaka, Kerrigan, Lt. Morales, Nova, Probius, Raynor, Sgt. Hammer, Stukov, Tassadar, Tychus, Zagara, and Zeratul
• The Lost Vikings: The Lost Vikings
• Warcraft: Alexstrasza, Anub’arak, Arthas, Brightwing, Chen, Cho’gall, Chromie, E.T.C., Falstad, Garrosh, Gazlowe, Greymane, Gul’dan, Illidan, Jaina, Kael’thas, Kel’Thuzad, Li Li, Lunara, Maiev, Malfurion, Medivh, Muradin, Murky, Ragnaros, Rehgar, Rexxar, Samuro, Stitches, Sylvanas, Thrall, Tyrande, Uther, Valeera, Varian, and Zul’jin

Although the main goal in Heroes of the Storm is to destroy the enemy base, also called Core, completing unique objectives along the way help teams in their ultimate goal of destruction. Goals range from capturing tributes to escorting a payload to controlling shrines. Maps are designed to revolve around and encourage completion of these objectives.

Each battleground or map teams are placed upon have different layouts and unique features. The basic commonalities in structure include two bases at the far left and right of the map for the blue and red team, respectively. Running from the Core are three pathways, called ��lanes�� which run the length of the battleground and connect both bases.

Lanes are where heroes battle for dominance or make their stand, and where NPC (Non Playable Characters) in the form of minions spawn to aid their respective teams. There are tons of structures within the lanes, such as mercenary camps, forts and watchtowers which prevent teams from waltzing through to the enemy base.

Structures effectively act as progression markers, as when a team destroys the majority of the fort or surrounding defenses, it usually means the final battle for the Core is imminent.

How is HoTS different to Dota 2 or other MOBAs?

While in the same genre as rival competitors Dota 2 or League of Legends, Blizzard describes HoTS as an “online hero brawler”. It has many differences from typical MOBAs in that its team-based focus extends to its gameplay mechanics:

• XP (Experience Points) are shared between all members
• All heroes level up at the same time once a certain XP threshold is met
• Consumable items are replaced with a customizable Talents system
• Hero skills are unlocked at the beginning of the match except for ultimate abilities, which are unlocked at level 10
• Each match is intended to last around 20 minutes rather than the long slug-fests of other MOBAs

HoTS��s freemium model has fostered a steady increase in player-base since its launch over two years ago, with around a million active players cited by Blizzard and 660,000 viewers on live-streaming sites like Twitch. It��s definitely not as big as other Blizzard esports, but it��s certainly growing.

Current Heroes of the Storm esports leagues

Heroes of the Storm has an official esports league, as well as several other international tournament series produced by third-party organizers with modest prize-pools.

The main esports circuit for Heroes of the Storm is the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship Circuit (HGC), organized and run by series developer Blizzard. It features the best teams from Australia/New Zealand, China, Europe, Korea, Latin America, North America, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan in a seasonal format (Spring, Summer and Fall) and the best performing teams eventually compete on the world stage in the end-of-year Global Championship event.

With US $30,000+ prize-pools for regional qualifiers and finals and over $1 million prize-money offered at the 2017 Heroes of the Storm Global Championship Grand Finals, the HGC is definitely not a side project for Blizzard and we expect it to grow significantly this year in both popularity and investment.

Outside of the HGC, there are a number of other competitions and tournaments for HoTS, including Bloodlust, Dreamhack, King of the Storm and Gold Series Heroes League. These events are mostly in regions where HoTS is more popular, such as Europe and China, and offer smaller amounts of prize-money and prestige.

Heroes of the Storm: 2024 esports schedule

The 2024 Heroes of the Storm esports season is in full swing, with concrete dates for all HGC events courtesy of Blizzard. The Gold Series Heroes League also have dates for this year��s Spring Season – below we have included a schedule of every upcoming tournament and their prize-pools for easy reference. Bookmark this page to find out when new tournaments are announced.

Where can I watch Heroes of the Storm esports?

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Despite hosting tournaments and leagues in multiple regions, the majority of Heroes of the Storm esports tournaments are run and streamed online, meaning there is no live audience or special venue for teams and fans to travel to for the regular season.

The finals, however, are always played live at Anaheim Convention Center in California, USA and broadcast by Blizzard themselves. Also, some partners in China and South Korea host their equivalent regional leagues in live venues, mostly owing to the higher popularity of HoTS in those regions.

All tournaments, whether online or live, are streamed in real-time to Twitch and YouTube so all fans can tune into the latest competitive HoTS action for free.

We recommend watching the official livestreams over at Blizzard’s HoTS esports hub and the main HoTS esports channel on Twitch.

Want to bet on the HGC while you watch? Find the best markets at esports betting sites listed in the table above.

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Rocket League is the perfect esport to watch, regardless of gaming knowledge. It��s easy to understand, it��s fast-paced and you don��t need deep technical knowledge to appreciate the intense competition on display or explain what’s happening to your friends – and there��s plenty of entertaining tournaments available to watch on the Web.

Developer Psyonix and a handful of third-party esports tournament organizers host Rocket League competitions throughout the year and live-stream the esports action for free via Twitch and YouTube. There��s even TV stations airing Rocket League, as one of the first esports to properly infiltrate the mainstream market due to its widespread appeal.

This guide will help fans and curious newcomers find the best sources to watch Rocket League esports events.

How to watch Rocket League esports online

Like most esports, the best way to watch Rocket League pro gaming tournaments is online through live-streaming websites like MLG.tv, Twitch.tv and YouTube.

These sites are specially tailored to video gaming broadcasts and are easy to access and share. Most importantly, they��re free, which means fans and curious newcomers can watch the best Rocket League competitions without having to pay anything.

Live-streaming as a medium isn��t exclusive to esports, but its success in the last few years definitely owes a lot to competitive gaming. Essentially, you��re watching real-time coverage of an esports event provided by the organizer and uploaded to the Internet without cost of entry.

The livestream of the tournament also acts as a normal video once the event is over, meaning you can just access it later if you can��t catch it while it��s running.

Rocket League is unique from other esports, however, in that it has also been featured in several traditional television broadcasts. American TV networks ESPN, NBC and TBS all ran one-off Rocket League tournaments on their channels last year, which gathered significant viewership numbers and captured a large chunk of the mainstream audience who know nothing about esports.

With its simplicity and accessibility, we expect it to gain further momentum on traditional media this year as these stations and their competitors begin to invest more in their tournaments.

Enough with the history – the following sites the best live-streaming sources to watch Rocket League Championship Series and other tournament events in 2018.

Watch Rocket League esports on Twitch

Rocket League creators Psyonix partnered up with Twitch for semi-exclusive broadcasting rights and as a result the majority of live-streamed Rocket League Championship Series matches are only available to watch on their official Twitch.tv channel, with videos uploaded later to YouTube.

Twitch actually manages the broadcasting and production suite of RLCS, but we��re not mad because the quality of every live-stream and its spectator interface is top-notch – especially for a game that isn��t as dominant in concurrent viewership counts as Dota 2 or League of Legends.

The official Rocket League channel has over 500,000 subscribers and around 230 videos of past RLCS competitions freely available to watch at your convenience on computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet – you just need an active data connection (obviously).

There��s also some neat in-house produced videos called ��RLCS Overtime�� which break-down every game and discuss power rankings after every match – and it honestly made us more hyped about the competitive scene than we initially were.

High-definition streams, community chat and tons of events – it��s by far the best option to watch Rocket League esports and start properly following the competitive scene.

Rocket League esports – Where to watch on Twitch

• Rocket League on Twitch – Psyonix official channel

How many people watch Rocket League esports events?

Rocket League may not be at the viewership levels of CS:GO, League of Legends or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds just yet, but its mainstream popularity should not be underestimated.

In the latest NewZoo numbers for most watched esports games on Twitch, Rocket League ranked #9 with 600,000 hours of esports streams watched and a total of 2.3 million hours of Rocket League-related video content consumed.

The Rocket League Championship Series also experienced record-breaking concurrent numbers for the 2017 season, attracting over 200,000 viewers watching the main event at the same time.

Meanwhile, American television network TBS’s foray into broadcasting Rocket League esports tournaments paid dividends late last year after the peniultimate episode of their in-house produced The ELEAGUE Cup: Rocket League was the #1 highest-rated esports TV program of 2017, according to Nielsen.

Where can I bet on Rocket League esports tournaments?

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If you’re interested in placing a bet on your favourite professional Rocket League teams and players and want to watch the action as it unfolds, you’ll be glad to know more and more esports betting sites are offering betting markets on RLCS and other Rocket League tournaments.

We have reviewed the best international online sportsbooks with esports betting markets for Rocket League and many other popular competitive titles for your the best sportsbooks for your convenience. You can check out our in-depth reviews, as well as the sites themselves by clicking on any of the provided links in the table above. The table will only display the latest and best options legally catering to users from your country interested in safe and licensed esports betting.

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It��s safe to say a fair portion of the hardcore esports and video game communities consider mobile games to be little more than side-distractions for a boring commute or dull family gathering. While smartphones and tablets have improved in graphics capability in recent years, playing games on your smartphone phone or tablet has yet to produce the same complex and in-depth experiences many console and PC gamers expect and live by.

However, while many of us have been ignoring the many technological advances made in the mobile space, parts of the professional esports circuit have quietly banked on portable platforms and carved out an impressive niche right under our noses, making as much money as their console/PC counterparts. Mobile esports? Yes, it��s a thing.

What games are mobile esports?

It��s easy to assume esports begins and ends with the core triumvirate of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2 and League of Legends. These three games have dominated the competitive and professional gaming scene for the better part of a decade, and are arguably the main reasons behind the investment and success of the esports industry today.

However, we��re seeing more new games than ever before follow an ��esports-ready�� template, where the core gameplay mechanics and multiplayer component encourage future organized, competitive play with the hopes of a massive fan-base to launch a proper league. Overwatch’s recent success can be attributed to this new framework.

Mobile would be the last platform any gamer would expect to games with an esports-ready template implemented, yet here we are with games like Clash of Clans, Hearthstone and Vainglory.

• Clash Royale
  A hybrid mobile game blending in elements of collectible card games, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), real time strategy and tower defense into one addictive experience. As a 1-vs-1 game, two players start on opposite sides of a map with their own base, with the aim to defend your base while attacking your opponent and successfully destroying theirs using special cards that give you access to use abilities, buildings, minions. It has had massive esports tournaments such as the King’s Cup, which has offered prize-pools of over US $70,000, and a newly created esports league called Path2Pro which aims to feature a more regular season of competitions in 2018.
• Hearthstone
  A mobile trading card game that is entirely digital (no physical versions) and played in a turn-based fashion with hundreds of unique cards and deck combinations. Games are played 1-vs-1 in a head-to-head format, with the aim of reducing your opponent’s health to zero using the smartest mixture of cards. Developed by Blizzard, it is one of most popular esports in the mobile space and arguably the most significant in that it was developed by an internationally recognized PC/console developer. The 4th Annual Hearthstone Championship Tour and World Championship started in January and features 16 of the best players vying for a share of US $1 million in a live tournament held in Amsterdam.
• Vainglory
  A MOBA mobile game played very similarly to its PC counterparts such as League of Legends, with two teams battling across a one-lane horizontal map with a jungle in the bottom and tons of unique heroes to play as, each with their own abilities, XP and inventories. With over 1.5 million active monthly players announced by its developers, Vainglory has mostly found success overseas in the Asia-Pacific markets, enough so that its overseas tournaments have caught the eye of most major esports betting sites, making it one of the first mobile esports to have regular betting markets offered.

Mobile esports in 2018: The Numbers

Last year, esports became a $1.5 billion industry, with renewed projections around $2.3 billion by 2022, according to esports numbers cruncher Superdata. The industry boom is very real and happening right now, but what many don��t realise is how much mobile video games have contributed to these massive figures.

In one of its latest quarterly reports, insights company NewZoo confirmed smartphone and tablet gaming as a whole grew 19% year over year to generate approximately $50.4 billion in 2017. Three quarters of these aforementioned profits came from smartphone gaming on devices such as the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy series, with tablet games accounting for the remaining 10.8 billion. Mobile also captured 42% of the total games market, expected to increase to 50% by 2020.

This year, most of China��s growth is in the mobile gaming sector. Two Chinese mobile gaming companies behind some of the biggest mobile esports projects, NetEase and Tencent, accounted for $7.7 billion of mobile gaming revenues in 2016 between them, with additional growth estimated for over $14.6 billion in 2018.

By 2020, NewZoo believes mobile gaming will represent ��just more than half of the total games market��, and with the number of active smartphones globally around 3 billion as of late last year, it makes you wonder why mainstream esports game developers like Valve have yet to jump on mobile.

Why mobile esports are growing in popularity

Traditional esports fans and hardcore gamers in general tend to forget just how far the tech in our smartphones and tablets have come, and the experiences they can now enable for the new demographic of gamers they have attracted. Once you have a proper think about it, there are many reasons why mobile gaming and the mobile esports scene is experiencing its own boom, in both popularity and revenue share, in recent years.

• Smartphones are everywhere
  As we already touched upon, there’s around 3 billion or more active smartphone owners around the world right now. It makes senses for smaller gaming developers and existing esports giants like Blizzard to move into the mobile space when there is so many potential buyers and fans to reach out to from the onset. For players and fans, it’s also extremely easy to invest time into their favourite mobile games and mobile esports scenes, given the portable nature of the device – you don’t have to be at home on your computer or lugging around a heavy laptop to get straight into it.
• Accessibility of controls and gameplay
  Playing games on touch-screen inevitably means there’s far fewer inputs and complex macros for both gamers and the fans watching to understand, and the learning curve is overall much easier. For example, Vainglory still retains the intense MOBA action we associate with Dota 2 or League of Legends, but is built from the ground up for portable devices in that it has one lane, less abilities and items to juggle (and remember) and more straightforward inputs. Some hardcore esports fans might scoff at the lack of complexity, but games like Hearthstone and Vainglory still retain their high-skill wall and in-depth strategies – they just manage it in other ways. The consolidation of certain features also allows potential fans and players who might not gel with traditional esports to understand what’s happening a lot quicker and easier.

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Counter-Strike 2 is one of the top 3 live-streamed esports in the world, with hardcore communities and casual fans alike watching the biggest professional tournaments unfold across a variety of different online services. While the CS2 Pro League is the main competition to watch year-round, there are plenty of other Majors, Minors and Qualifiers broadcast over the Internet and available to binge-watch if you can’t get enough of the CS2 competitive circuit.

One thing unique to CS2 compared to other esports is how hard it is to keep up with all of the different leagues and tournaments. Because Valve sponsors rather than hosts its own CS2 events, there is an overwhelming number of third-party organizers like Electronic Sports League running CS2 tournaments of varying tiers in multiple regions. This makes actually finding out where to watch each event fairly complicated, unless you’re highly involved with the community.

This guide is here to help fans who might not be as Internet savvy find the best sources to watch CS2 esports events.

How to watch CS2 esports online

The majority of CS2’s competitive tournaments are available to watch online, for free, through live-streaming sites like MLG.tv, Twitch.tv and YouTube. Watching live-streams is free on all popular platforms, making it possible for casual or hardcore fans to tune in without cost of entry.

CS2 Pro League is the biggest tournament held every year, run and organized by Electronic Sports League who have an exclusive broadcast deal with Facebook. Starting with the European and North American ESL Pro League Season 7, fans can only find official streams for these events on Facebook, though you don’t need an account there to watch. Live-streams and replays for other league or tournaments that are not ESL-branded can be found, as normal, on other sites.

If you’re unfamiliar with what live-streaming is, it’s just a real-time broadcast of an esports event uploaded to the Internet. From the comfort of home, you can tune into the coverage on computer, smartphone or tablet and watch the action as it unfolds. You can also watch the uploaded videos of the event after the fact, if you can’t watch it live.

CS2 is one of the few esports to break into the mainstream consciousness, with several television networks in North America running broadcasts of one-off CS2 tournament events. However, these aren’t as common or high in production value as the main premiers hosted by ESL and other well established leagues, and only with certain cable providers.

The following list are the best live-streaming sites to watch CS2 Pro League and other tournaments.

Watch CS:GO esports on Facebook

The Electronic Sports League announced Facebook will be their main broadcast partner for Counter-Strike 2 Pro League and other ESL One esport events from this year onward.

You can only watch official live-streams of CS2 Pro League on the popular social media site. Thankfully, you do not have to have an account on Facebook to access and watch the streams, with links provided on the official ESL website.

All CS2 Pro League streams are available to watch in full 1080p resolution and 60fps on Facebook, and you can even choose to watch live-streams in a virtual reality headset such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift in the near future.

There are also collaborative video features planned which will allow esports fans to watch the live-streams with friends and jump in chat-rooms while watching the same broadcast, though there is no date for when it will be implemented.

While the CS2 Pro League has yet to commence, the ESL One events that have streamed on Facebook so far have had decent quality with some minor hiccups, and it’s the only place you can watch the main event for now.

CS2 esports – Where to watch on Facebook

• CS2 on Facebook – ESL channel

Watch CS2 esports on Twitch

ESL have multiple CS2 Twitch channels where anyone can tune watch VODs (Video on Demand) of past events with ease.

In addition, other third-party esports organizers who run CS2 events, such as ELEAGUE, broadcast their tournaments live on their own Twitch channels year-round.

Twitch is the main platform for esports viewing because it’s got HD streams, thousands of legacy clips for fans to catch up on at any time, and you can interact with the esports community while watching the same broadcast effortlessly.

Plus, there’s always those digital goodies publishers like Valve give away for watching their tournaments on the platform.

CS2 esports – Where to watch on Twitch

• CS2 on Twitch – Main ESL channel

Watch CS2 esports on YouTube

ESL, ELEAGUE, Dreamhack and many other community esports enthusiasts groups collate CS:GO tournament footage and upload it to YouTube.

With YT’s ease of access across all devices, it’s the easiest way for newer fans to dive into the already six-year long history of CS2 esports events available to watch on the world’s most popular video-sharing site.

ESL and a few others upload live-streams from time to time, but YT is best to watch the extras, such as exclusive interviews and commentary roundtables, as well as past videos. Many famous teams such as FaZe Clan and Team Liquid also upload their own personal footage on their own channels, which is a great place to see behind the scenes esports content.

CS2 esports – Where to watch on YouTube

• CS:GO on YouTube – ESL

How many people watch CS2 esports events?

The latest stats on the esport circuit for CS2 has seen its concurrent viewership skyrocket over the 1.1 million mark for the recent Boston ELEAGUE Finals event, just beating the already impressive record set last year.

Year-round, CS2 is one of the most popular and most watched esports on Twitch and other live-streaming sites. NewZoo reported that CS:GO made the top 10 most watched games nearly every single month in 2017, recording around 47.9 million esports hours watched on average.

Where can I bet on CS2 esports tournaments?

Best CS2 esports betting sites

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Want to place a real money bet on your favourite CS2 team to win before or while watching the action? Many esports betting sites allow customers around the world to do so with ease.

We’ve reviewed a dozen of the best sportsbooks with best value CS2 betting markets for your convenience. You can access our verdict, or check out the sites for yourself by clicking on any of the links in the table above. It’s also geo-targeted, meaning you’ll only ever be presented with options that legally cater to users from your country.

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The report put the business models and industry sales of video games with loot boxes under the microscope, and showed a small number of players are contributing the most to the game’s revenue solely through the purchase of loot boxes.

In gambling terms, these players are called ‘whales’ and essentially keep the loot box ecosystem afloat with their high-spending, while the majority of players don’t engage with the system.

The Youth Protection Commission of the State Media Authorities believes loot boxes are preying on young children and are promoting gambling to gamers who don’t know any better, turning them into whales without parents realizing.

“It think it is conceivable that loot boxes violate existing regulation in place to protect against promoting gambling to children and adolescents,” said Wolfgang Krei?ig, chairman of the Youth Protection Commission.

If the plan for reform goes ahead, the Youth Commission could hand out fines and prohibit manufacturers from offering games with loot boxes elements unless they modify the game for the German market.

Germany’s lawmakers will decide whether a blanket ban is on the cards for games with lootboxes in March, and their decision could influence other countries grappling with the issue.

Why are lootboxes a problem for esports?

Given many of the world’s most popular esports titles feature loot boxes, potential restrictions could drastically affect local and international esports circuits.

For those who don’t know what they are, lootboxes are virtual boxes which contain randomized digital rewards which players can use in-game.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Overwatch and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds are just some of the big name esports games with loot boxes or optional microtransactions incorporated into their general gameplay, using these systems to award players with cosmetic items such as character skins and weapon skins.

What is irking regulators in Germany and around the world is that these virtual items are obtained by chance and you cannot buy what you want individually, leading to arguments about whether these games should be classified as gambling.

While none of these rewards are essential, the rarity of these advertised digital items heavily encourage players to make additional purchases of loot boxes for a chance at obtaining the items they want, without guarantee of getting them.

Some esports organizations also regularly team up with the game developers behind each esport to release exclusive team weapon skins, encouraging fans to purchase loot boxes for a chance to wear their favourite team’s colours in-game.

For those who don’t believe loot boxes are significant enough for such intense scrutiny, just know Overwatch recorded over $1 billion in revenue last year, 80 per cent of it from digital channels and in-game content sales which jumped 25 per cent year-over-year.

Why? Because of the massive 30 million strong fanbase spending money on lootboxes and cosmetic items.

At present, the Belgian Gaming Commission has classified loot boxes in video games such as Star Wars Battlefront II as gambling.

However, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission has dismissed loot boxes as a form of gambling, which is a big blow to those pushing for change given the UKGC’s immense influence on the international regulated gambling industry.

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The studio will film and broadcast professional gaming competitions held at major esports arenas across Australia and New Zealand as part of a deal struck between SkyCity Entertainment Group and esports production company Lets Play Live Media (LPL), first announced late last year.

The LPL Studio is also New Zealand’s first purpose-built esports broadcasting suite, and is currently housed in Level 2 of the Sky Tower, formerly known as the XO Bar.

Situated near the SkyCity Theatre, the LPL Studio will be able to host tournaments there, with seating capacity for around 700 live audience members and 3,000 fans on-site.

All of LPL’s live coverage will be provided in high-quality 4K and HD resolution and shared with linear TV or online broadcast partners worldwide, allowing local AU and NZ events to shine on the world stage outside of Twitch and YouTube replays.

The equipment and set-up is impressive, to say the least. The LPL venue mirrors traditional sporting studios and is fully outfitted with dedicated PC and console booths, a control room and several commentary and analysis desks.

A giant external LED screen sits at the base of the Sky Tower, so esports fans can enjoy the action as they pass by.

LPL Director Duane Mutu said the creation of LPL Studios will help advance the broadcasting and production of esports competitions in the region.

“It will also provide New Zealand with the infrastructure to develop the eSports industry locally and create a platform for emerging professional talent to turn their hobby into a career competing internationally,” Mutu told the NZ Herald.

The announcement comes as LPL opens registration for their new $10,000 ANZ CS:GO Tournament, organized and broadcast entirely by the group.

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Alpha Invitational tournament seeks three of Australia and New Zealand’s best CS:GO esports teams and will run for 7 weeks, as the six groups battle it out in round-robin matches and a final series to take home a slice of the prize pool. All of the action will be broadcast live for AU and NZ fans to enjoy.

Qualifiers for the event will be held this weekend, February 10 – interested teams can register at Smash.gg.

In the meantime, LPL has shared a behind-the-scenes video of the new state-of-the-art facility on YouTube – check it out for yourselves in the embedded video below.

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Overwatch’s parent company released their quarterly earnings report (Q4 2017) for investors and held a conference call for the press, where OWL commissioner Nate Nanzer announced the plans for additional franchises next year. Several esports journalists, including freelance consultant Rod Breslau, relayed the news over Twitter.

As @JacobNWolf reports, the main targets of expansion are Europe and Asia. Won't matter too much as 4 new teams trying to win will be 48 Korean players.

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) February 8, 2018

Soon after, ESPN’s Jacob Wolf tweeted the OWL is looking at Asia and Europe for its expansion efforts – and pointed out that out of the current three international teams – London Spitfire, Shanghai Dragons and Seoul Dynasty – only one of them, the Dragons, are actually owned and run by an organization based in their home country. That would be NetEase, Blizzard’s broadcasting and esports partner in China, while the other two are entirely operated from North America.

With the search for new franchises, hopefully we see more talented line-ups from under-represented countries get a proper chance to shine on the world stage – though many are already joking that the new international teams will probably have all-Korean rosters anyway (looking at you, London Spitfire!)

More teams and more talent is always good news in our books, given how amazing the inaugural season of Overwatch League has turned out in both competition and production, and based on the official released numbers of recorded viewership, we think the majority agree with us on that part.

Blizzard confirmed over 10 million people watched the OWL’s opening week via livestreaming sites like MLG and Twitch, pulling in an average of 408,000 unique views across all matches.

They also signed a lucrative two-year deal with Twitch for exclusive broadcasting rights to the Overwatch League, reportedly worth US $90 million, which is paying dividends so far.

What cities do you want to see represented in the Overwatch League’s second season? What is your dream team line-up? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

The post Blizzard wants more teams for Overwatch League season 2 appeared first on Esport Bet.

Former video-game editor Malik Fort�� and veteran caster Alex ‘Goldenboy’ Mendez are set to join the existing Overwatch League presenters over on the English broadcast, while Qiong ‘Chixiaotu’ Li and Miram ‘Hwimori’ Ahn will produce content for Chinese and Korean OWL fans, respectively.

The new talent brings some much requested diversity to the current team of casters, and each of them bring substantial experience to the table.

Fort�� is the former editor of video game news site Nerdist.com and is well known in the Overwatch esports scene for his active involvement in the early days of the professional circuit. He was the sole field reporter for the 2016 ELEAGUE Overwatch Open and garnered national attention for a botched handshake in an interview with Dallas Fuel’s Brandon ‘Seagull’ Larned, which did the rounds on social media but kick-started his esports broadcasting career.

Mendez is an incredibly popular freelance esports commentator and host in the worldwide esports community, casting and presenting several competitive events for Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment and Twitch. He’s also well known for his humour and wit, so he will gel well with the existing team.

This is actually happening! I��m hosting the #OWL2018 desk today.https://t.co/5prhnOzmjB

I totally didn��t plan this picture…

But you know who has great plans? ? pic.twitter.com/MUT1pNyWX6

— Alex Mendez (@GoldenboyFTW) February 8, 2018

Hwimori might not be as well known to English fans of the Overwatch League, but she is making a name for herself in South Korea as a caster and host for college esports tournaments and reporting on Overwatch news via her Twitch and YouTube streaming channels. Her addition will help strengthen the Korean-language video content.

Chixiaotu rounds out the team with substantial experience as both a caster and team manager of professional Overwatch. She has been one of the main broadcasters and hosts for Chinese Overwatch esports tournaments, most notably the Overwatch World Cup 2017 Shanghai Qualifier and APAC Overwatch Premier Series, and will spearhead the video content for Chinese-language viewers.

Both Fort�� and Mendez are confirmed to join the current casting team later this week, while Chixiaotu and Hwimori will “begin producing special content segments for fans in China and Korea.”

All in all, as fans of the Overwatch League we’re pretty happy with the new additions, and we won’t say no if we can get more hilariously awkward handshakes from Fort��.

The closing week of Overwatch League’s Stage 1 is underway, with Philadelphia Fusion vs. Boston Uprising at 2pm PST / 5pm EST.

Check out our free bet predictions for this weekend’s best OWL matches if you’re interested in placing a bet while you watch.

Oh, and if you want to watch the infamous Seagull handshake yourself, get ready to cringe with the embedded video below.

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