Gameloft’s Asphalt mobile racer gets its first esports tournament

Mobile developer Gameloft is ready to take its long-running racing franchise to esports. Today, the company announced that it’s hosting the first edition of its Asphalt esports series, which will run this summer and conclude at the Gamescom convention — the biggest game show in the world — this August in Germany.

According to market researcher Newzoo, esports will be a $1.65 billion business by 2021. And mobile esports could help it get there. For the Asphalt esports series, Gameloft is partnering with competitive gaming company ESL to organize the tournament. It also struck a deal with Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi to make the Black Shark 2 phone the official gaming device of the competition.