“Everyone has a cell phone,” says Brett Lautenbach. “That’s why mobile esports has room for success.”

Sitting in a conference room in downtown Los Angeles, the president of NRG Esports is surrounded by team owners, managers, executives, and players from a wide swath of established esports organizations. Immortals CEO Noah Winston sits a few tables over. Nick Allen, formerly of Riot Games and Twitch , now COO of Counter Logic Gaming , chats with his players a few seats down. Tribe Gaming CEO Patrick “Chief Pat” Carney prepares for another interview. Players from Cloud9 mingle with their soon-to-be competitors. It’s an impressive list of esports luminaries, and they’re all playing the same game on their respective phones: Clash Royale .

A few minutes earlier, developer Supercell detailed the North American and European divisions of the Clash Royale League, which kicks off on August 20 and culminate in a $1M prize pool championship.

The Esports Observer spoke with representatives from several of the teams involved in the league, including Lautenbach, Allen, and 100 Thieves Clash Royale general manager William “Woody” Hix. They explained what convinced them to commit to the initiative, what Supercell is doing to make sure it succeeds in the long run, and what teams themselves can do to ensure that success.

Across the board, the established organizations say they were convinced in large part due to Supercell’s willingness to take their feedback into account. The game’s massive player base of well over 100M didn’t hurt, either.

“It’s a mega popular game, which obviously makes it easier when you already have a core fan base,” says Lautenbach.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”It’s a mega popular game, which obviously makes it easier when you already have a core fan base.”[/perfectpullquote]

Allen echoes that statement, adding that it is also compelling at the highest levels of competition. “[Clash Royale has a] huge player base,” he says.”We have personally a lot of passion for the game, we all play it at the office at varying levels. We know the game, we know how competitive it is and how challenging it is, how high a skill ceiling it has.

But while the player base is a great selling point for Supercell to get teams in the door in the first place, keeping them around requires listening and encouraging feedback on an esports scene that is still very much in its infancy.

Says Hix, “I think one of the greatest things about Supercell’s approach is the thoughtfulness that they take in their [step-by-step] approach in finding the best way to do things. They learn from their mistakes, certainly. Starting in mid-to-late 2017 in the Crown Championship Gold Series, and finally launching now with the Clash Royale League, is learning what the community likes and wants to see in highly competitive Clash Royale.”

Related Article: Chief Pat on Tribe Gaming’s Mobile Focus and the Clash Royale League

For any league, attaining and holding onto a viewer base is vital for the health of that league’s marketability. The more eyes a competition gets, the more valuable it is in the eyes of sponsors. Interestingly, while most developers and sponsors supporting esports scenes look to Twitch viewership as the primary benchmark for spectator success, Clash Royale‘s most loyal watchers largely reside on YouTube, at least according to Allen.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”[YouTube viewership] really under-indexed in esports.”[/perfectpullquote]

“Viewership was compelling, especially on the YouTube side of things, which is different than what you’d see in other esports titles,” he says. “Most folks think that the primary way the eyeballs on pro scenes are driven those participating in the league on Twitch… or maybe Twitch streams of the individual players. But YouTube was also a huge driver of these eyeballs around brands. It’s really under-indexed in esports. With Clash Royale, so much of the audience is consuming [YouTube] content that it’s too big to ignore. We’re platform agnostic in that aspect. It’s accomplishing the same things that you see from other titles, if not more efficiently.”

The huge demographic present on YouTube isn’t the only thing that makes Clash Royale stand out from its larger esports counterparts, either. It’s also one of the few mobile games to make large pushes while not looking like a stripped-down version of a more complex PC or console title—something Lautenbach believes is an advantage.

“The game itself is very clearly a mobile game,” he says. “It’s not trying to recreate an experience that you might get on console or PC. It’s creating an experience that’s unique to mobile. That, to me, says it’s going to drive players and continued engagement.”

While the Twitch viewership of Clash Royale esports may not be up to the same level as Fortnite or League of Legends right now, its huge presence—at least, in the eyes of Allen and the other team representatives—on YouTube provides a unique opportunity for the game. Whereas Twitch-first spectator esports have to push audiences to the video-on-demand platform—and the loyalty-building content on it—Clash Royale‘s audience is already there, something Allen says Supercell is acutely aware of.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Supercell has gone about it the right way in working with the largest team organizations.”[/perfectpullquote]

“I think Supercell has gone about it the right way in working with the largest team organizations, the most successful team organizations in North America and Europe. They have also been leveraging their reach to help build an audience around the league itself that will hopefully help it be as successful in the long term.”

The young player base of Clash Royale does mean unique challenges for promoting the league, however. The organizations and players involved in the League have to adapt to appeal to an audience that skews even younger than established esports—where teenagers dominate the demographics.

“I think the quirkiness and the fun and the social aspect of the game are something that are intrinsic to it,” says Hix. “You can’t separate that out when you’re making it an esport. We understand that we are representative of an even bigger competitive scene.”

Adds Allen, “Appealing to a younger audience is about understanding where they are and the platforms that they interact with and then coming with a tone and approach that is relatable to them… We do a ton of research to understand trends and understand what’s interesting to younger demographics, and then trying not to be the old, weird, creeper memers that completely missed the mark. [laughs]”

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Appealing to a younger audience is about understanding where they are and the platforms that they interact.”[/perfectpullquote]

But once everything is in place and ready for the Clash Royale League’s launch later this month, the league’s success is going to depend on Supercell’s ability to adapt and listen to those who have experience in growing scenes. Fortunately for the developer, the teams involved have a lot of experience with growing esports from small scenes to competitive juggernauts. Supercell just has to keep an ear open—something nearly everyone at the announcement said they already do.

“[Supercell has] so many great minds and esports guys that have been around for so long and have so many key learnings,” says Lautenbach. “The ability for us to pick up the phone and call somebody over there and say, ‘Hey, have you guys started thinking about this?’ or, ‘This could be an interesting way to monetize.’ That stuff is what’s going to drive this forward.”

In the end, building viewership for Clash Royale and keeping those eyes locked is what keeps any professional esports league afloat. To do that, they’re going to have to be able to adapt.

“You’re never going to ace it your first time around,” says Lautenbach. “It’s impossible. Esports requires years and years of development as a product to get it right. Same with sports! The NFL rulebook changes massively every year, right? We’re always going to be sanding off rough edges. The only thing that you can really do to get that start is to get an open pipeline of communication.”