Gabe “gabevizzle” Villarin plays Vainglory for Cloud9. It has become the flagship mobile esports title, and in a year that promises to see the emergence of more such mobile titles than you can shake a stick at, we caught up with Gabe to see why he thinks the Super Evil Megacorp title has proven such a smash hit.

It was only this week that it was announced that London’s very own 02 arena would play host to a Vainglory competition later in the year. We’ll be there hanging from the rafters but before all that gets underway check out the Q&A below.

Esports Insider: Why do you think Vainglory has had so much success as a mobile esport? What do you think the appeal is?

Gabe ‘gabevizzle’ Villarin: Vainglory in my opinion has had so much success as a mobile esport because people just love watching the game.

“I’ve always watched the Apple keynote whenever they’re introducing a new iPhone…the year the iPhone 6 was released they showcased Vainglory. That appealed to me personally”

Vainglory, a 3v3 high intensive game, lasts between 15 to 25 minutes. This is low compared to other MOBA games like League and DOTA, wherein times can vary between 40 to 60 minutes. I think their audience is more catered to those who have a smart phone or tablet already because you can literally play anywhere at anytime. I’ve always watched the Apple keynote whenever they’re introducing a new iPhone. When they do this they usually show a game they can play, previously it was Infinity Blade but the year the iPhone 6 was released they showcased Vainglory. That appealed to me personally because I really enjoyed Infinity Blade.

ESI: Why do you think other developers haven’t taken after Super Evil Megacorp and made similar (or up to par) mobile games after such success from Vainglory?

Gabe: I believe that other developers have tried to take after SEMC and made similar mobile MOBAS but they have never really been that great.

Vainglory is so focused on the community and trying to improve themselves not for income but just because they genuinely want their product to be great.

ESI: What benefits and obstacles have you found from playing a MOBA game on mobile?

Gabe: I actually feel like playing a MOBA on a mobile device is less stressful on the fingers compared to a MOBA on a PC.

“Vainglory (SEMC) is so focused on the community and trying to improve themselves”

The only obstacles I feel Vainglory has is that it is optimized for the screen you’re playing on. With iPad players they get 4:3 whilst 16:9 is what smartphone players get; this could be an advantage because you can see more of the map.

ESI: Where do you want to see Vainglory go in the future?

Gabe: What I hope to see Vainglory have in the future is a bolstered viewership. I know that Vainglory is not as popular as other titles, but what I really want is for people to see that mobile esports can be a thing.

Other than that I would like to see the Vainglory developers keep improving the game and keep catering to the community like they’ve been doing so far.