In the 18 years since Dignitas’ establishment, it has managed to accumulate 77,400 followers on Instagram, 73,500 YouTube subscribers, and 276,100 followers on Twitter. However, having access to such a huge following isn’t always a good thing, as proven by a seemingly innocuous Tweet from the esports team that garnered the wrong kind of attention.
RELATED: Call of Duty Player Banned from College Esports Program
Dignitas’ Tweet Goes Viral
The controversy began with a response to another Twitter user as Dignitas’ commented “mobile gaming is not gaming.” The Tweet went viral, and the number of comments compared to the likes and retweets began spelling out a different opinion from the community.
The Internet dispute caught the attention of YouTuber iFerg, who is known for both his Fortnite gameplay and as a professional Call of Duty: Mobile player with three Battle Royale Worlds tournaments under his belt. He said, “I have won more tournaments in the last 5 years than your entire organization combined. The most relevant thing that has happened to you this decade has been this ratio.”
A different player called Sonho, who is renowned for his achievements in Apex Legends Mobile, also saw the Tweet and responded, “I can’t remember asking + mobile gamers are real gamers + the easiest relationship of my life that I’ll remember for decades to come.” Dignitas quickly removed the Tweet after more professionals, fans, and others started to take notice, then followed it up with a clown meme template that was edited to make fun of the decision to comment on social media in the first place.
The controversy of whether mobile gaming is equal to console or PC gaming is certainly not new, but in recent years more people have begun to validate the platform, especially as game developers are curating more apps for mobile devices. Big name titles such as Fortnite launched on mobile in 2018, Genshin Impact in 2020, and Mojang’s Minecraft in 2011 have all made their way to millions of phone and tablet screens.
It is also interesting that Dignitas would make such a comment seeing as one of the most popular games it competes in is League of Legends, shortly after Riot Games catered the spin-off PvP title League of Legends: Wild Rift toward mobile gamers. Mobile gaming does make up a large percentage of the gaming industry, and is expected to exceed $200 billion in 2022, according to a report by Newzoo earlier this year.
For many, mobile gaming is more convenient because of its portability, and ease of access compared to other devices. Whether a person considers mobile gaming to be “real” gaming or not, making the remark that Dignitas did in a public forum was always going to ruffle some feathers. That said, it seems most people found Dignitas’ controversial Tweet to be amusing, taking the opportunity to scroll through the comments “ratio-ing” the esports team. Now that Dignitas has acknowledged the Tweet was a mistake, the esports organization will be able to return to churning out more highlights of competitive Valorant gameplay and training for upcoming tournaments.
League of Legends is available now for PC.
MORE: Shaq Believes Esports Players Should Be Considered Athletes
