Kristian Segerstrale, the CEO of Vainglory developer Super Evil Megacorp, shares his opinion on the growing competition in mobile esports. Namely, Clash Royale.
Kristian was talking to Esports News UK at the Vainglory Unified Live Championship at the London O2 last weekend.
“Mobile esports feels very much like PC competitive gaming back in 2003,” he said. “There’s an explosion of competitive gaming on mobile. But instead of trying to force it, we look at how we create competition and community.
“We’ve seen mobile gaming over the past few years been perhaps a little bit stale in terms of the format, it’s been mainly turn-based gaming without many real-time components. It’s formulaic perhaps, whereas this year I think you’re going to see a lot of real-time [mobile] games coming out with high-quality graphics and a competitive element.
“I think you’ll see more 1v1 short-style mobile experiences like Clash Royale grow. You’ll also see larger other experiences like FPSs and other games start to grow.
“I think Clash Royale is a great example of taking a small baby step from what used to be a completely turn-based game in Clash of Clans to what is a little bit more time, more conducive to being spectated, and it’s certainly more competitive.
“This year I think you’re going to see a lot of real-time [mobile] games coming out with high-quality graphics and a competitive element.”
“If you look at PC and console 15 years ago, it was predominantly single-player experiences. Now almost any game outside of mobile is made for online multiplayer.
“But mobile is a natural evolution of the gaming culture, just like PC was. It’s almost inevitable that in the next five to ten years we’re going to see that as the dominant form of play, not just on PC or console, but on mobile too.
“These big sea changes in the industry feel like they happen really slowly when you’re in the middle of it, but then when you look back at how quickly something has changed the industry, it’s amazing.
“Everyone who’s focused on making more delightful experiences for consumers and opening the eyes of the broader audience that this type of play is possible… it’s good for the industry.
“Ultimately any company that can help us grow the market and the player base is really great.”
On the UK Vainglory fanbase and coming back to London
“For us, London is a really great spot. If you look at the casting talent globally for Vainglory, it largely comes from the UK. It’s such a base of talent I think, as well as having a large and growing fanbase, both for Vainglory and esports in general.
“For example, if you look at the work the NUEL is doing at a university level, you have this growth of fanbase and talent and everything else. The UK is really good from that perspective at that as well as being a central location. We had a really good experience last time so thought we’d do it again.
“We did need a bigger venue for a larger crowd. Fnatic as a franchise partner for London has allowed us to plug in organically, and that partnership has been really important for us.”
Watch: Five minutes with British Vainglory caster Excoundrel
Further reading: Rumours suggest Riot’s next game will be a mobile title

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.