Clash Royale: So you want to turn it into the first great mobile eSports game

It is very likely that you have heard of him, played some games or even read something about his potential as an eSport game. It is inevitable that if you like video games both at entertainment and professional level, at some point you have approached the phenomenon of ‘Clash Royale’.

And yet it is also very possible that seeing such a game in an electronic sports competition will make you weird. It is normal, of course, if you are a player of one of the star titles of the competitive landscape you will see an abysmal difference between this ‘Clash Royale’ and something like ‘League of Legends’ or ‘Counter-Strike’, but the truth is there More similarities than you imagine, and in addition, the potential of the mobile game in the eSport world is overwhelming.

But what’s so special about ‘Clash Royale’? Why is it a success and is it capable of dragging more than two million viewers? What are they doing at Supercell to push all this?

The key to the success of Clash Royale

There are two key factors behind the success of ‘Clash Royale’. The first of them is the success of Clash of Clans, the first great game of Supercell. With it they not only took control of the mobile gaming market getting a vertiginous income, they also gained a name and public attention for everything they placed in the stores of iOS, Android and other platforms.

He was followed by ‘Boom Beach’ and ‘Hay Day’, both updated offers of that bomb with different approaches, but it was with ‘Clash Royale’ when Supercell was able to surpass his own record and reach the 2 million dollars per day (only in States United) with which it is maintained on average today.

From that seemingly inexhaustible source of income was born one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns that are remembered in the AppStore of iOS devices, a bath of images and references to the game on the main screen of the app store similar to that we have been able to see Lately with the release of ‘Super Mario Run’.

At this point it would be easy to fall into the trap and claim that ‘Clash Royale’ owes its success to ‘Clash of Clans’, that the advertising maneuver supported by the revenues of other games was enough to win the public and that, of There, as they say, breeding fame and go to sleep, but nothing further from reality. It is when we come to the second, and not least, to say that ‘Clash Royale’ is a superb game and tremendously well thought out.

Why Clash Royale is a game?

Much could be said of the secret formula Supercell has earned the public and in no time there would be room to claim that they have reinvented the wheel. The key is how they have collected the best of each competitive game for, with a little rubber, aluminum and metal from each of them, create the ultimate tire.

Let’s look at StarCraft, for example, and get the idea of having different bases that we have to defend with attacking characters in real time, or jump to League of Legends and the need to destroy a building located at the opposite end of the map Using lanes that promote direct confrontations.

But let’s not stay there, we also take the immediacy and length of the matches of ‘Counter-Strike’ accelerating the duration of the encounter to an average of between 1 and 6 minutes. And let’s not forget ‘Hearthstone’, of course, ‘because that’s where a lot of the goodness of this’ Clash Royale’ comes from.

There is the collection of cards that must be unblocked progressively, the rarity levels of the same, the use of mana to use them, the coffers with prizes that can be won by playing or by means of micro-payments, the strategy of strengths and weaknesses of Each unit in a way that can be countered, and even the possibility of playing challenges where the highest number of victories offers you juicy rewards and three defeats send you to the canvas.

With a surgical precision, the creators of ‘Clash Royale’ have unveiled the best of video game design to create their ultimate game, a title not without errors (the sense of progress against the need to monetize it can drive more than one ) Which, at least on a global basis, has won the affection of public and criticism. Do you have something left over, then? Yes, its potential as a competitive game.

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Clash Royale and its potential as eSport

Supercell cannot deny that some of the work was already done. Clash of Clans already had a competitive scene in its day due to its popularity, but the style of game did not leave much margin of experimentation and their meetings were not especially attractive from the point of view of the spectator.

‘Clash Royale’, on the other hand, has been created with this in mind, presenting fast games in which we see visually differentiated units, in order to understand what is happening at each moment, and offers a level of complexity that gives way to experimentation Of the player while leaving very clear to the viewer where he wants to get with that idea.

Any player, even without knowing the goodness of each unit, can enjoy a game of ‘Clash Royale’ without too many problems. Not only that, you can see several in just a few minutes if you think you have not understood something or just want more.

Far from being limited to the creation of Twitch and YouTube content, Supercell chose to be the first gateway to game viewing by creating a platform for it within the game itself. Thus, between game and game we can not only consult the world ranking or join the conversation about the game of a clan, also see outstanding clashes with which to learn or entertain us.

How do you intend to grow even more?

Although it may seem that Supercell is very clear where the shots should go with his strategy to boost the competitive scene of ‘Clash Royale’, the truth is that this is not the case. Several weeks ago their own president, Ilkka Paananen, openly acknowledged that they did not simply want to replicate the PC gaming model and that they were still trying to figure out an ideal solution.

Shortly afterwards, The Crown Duel was announced , the first great official Clash Royale tournament in the United States, but it was following a scheme very similar to other entrances of the game in the competitive landscape as the ESL.

We talk, of course, about the production and presentation of the format, because beyond that the game has an ideal tool for the creation of customized tournaments that, due to its gateway payment with elements of the game, allows Supercell A massive organization with little cost of creation or management.

To show a button, the Chinese division of the game was able to gather last summer to 1000 users competing in more than 100 tournaments in which to climb positions to reach a grand finale with cash prize and in game elements. An event whose cost to third parties, and only at creation, would have grown to 20000 dollars.

With them Supercell not only offers the possibility to the players to continue competing, growing the community and that users who have reached a certain wall have options to continue spending, they also make with the exclusive of the format to exploit it as a promotional tool.

From there everything seems to be downhill, so Supercell should only worry about continuing to exploit his competitive face, offer incentives in the form of new units for people to keep playing and try to keep the balance between making ‘Clash Royale’ a Game accessible and turn it into a money making machine.