Can more apps fill the skills-based gap in the mobile game market?

With the massive financial success that Skillz.com has enjoyed by pioneering online gaming tournaments, it isn’t as though it’s a dead investment. You just have to look at the figures.

Skillz’s estimated annual revenue is currently $40.4 million per year in 2020 — not bad for a San Francisco start-up. It took just 36 months to generate its first $50 million annual run rate, and then just eight more to hit a $100 million run rate in May 2017. Since then, the rest, as they say, is history.

To say they’ve continued the impressive growth spurt is an understatement. The company now runs over two million tournaments a day and operates eSports competitions for 13,000 game studios, nearly double the 8,000 studios announced in April 2018.

With more than 18 million current users, Skillz has awarded a remarkable $300 million in prizes. Investment group Goldman Sachs has projected eSports revenue to reach $3 billion by 2022. What’s more, the same Goldman Sachs report expects prize pools to grow 30% each year for each of the next five years.

So what’s stopping other businesses from tapping into this gold mine? Well, nothing. Since Skillz was launched in 2012, much reputable competition has come into the market. Look out for platforms like Unikrn, AlphaDraft, GamerSaloon, Vulcun, Fantasy Esports, PlayX, Cashplay, ESportsfanz, and Fnatic.

Together they have raised over $84.8 million between them. These platforms are working so well simply because they capitalize on the growth of esports. It’s almost too easy. It’s about finding what people want — and designing it.

The development that comes later. So, now this gap seems to have been plugged, will more apps go where Skillz and co. went? Well, it’s not worth simply copying these esports apps. At Skillz, their plans for 2020 were to double the number of people who regularly use it, and build on the partnerships built-in 2019 — The American Cancer Society, The IGDA Foundation, the American Red Cross, and the Life is Good Kids Foundation.

Whether or not another rival company can come in and add meaningful content to the market, or whether that ship has sailed now, only time will tell. But the most successful businesses don’t imitate, they innovate. Money’s to be made where no one’s gone before.

Much like the players that use Skillz, it’s about embracing your inner champion and keeping your eyes on the prize.