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''Honor of Kings'' (, unofficially translated as "King's Glory", or alternatively transliterated as Wangzhe Rongyao) is a
multiplayer online battle arena Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of Gamer, players compete on a structured battlefield, each controlling a single Player character, character with distinctive abilit ...
(MOBA) video game developed by
TiMi Studio Group TiMi Studio Group ( zh, s=天美工作室群, p=Tiānměi Gōngzuò Shìqún) is a Chinese video game developer based in Shenzhen. A subsidiary of Tencent Games, it operates branches in Singapore, Montréal, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chengdu, and Sh ...
and published by
Tencent Games Tencent Games () is the video game publishing subdivision of Tencent Interactive Entertainment, the digital entertainment division of Tencent Holdings. It has five internal studio groups, including TiMi Studio Group. Tencent Games was founde ...
for
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
,
HarmonyOS NEXT HarmonyOS NEXT ( zh, s=鸿蒙星河版, p=Hóngméng Xīnghébǎn) is a proprietary software, proprietary distributed operating system that succeeded the similarly named HarmonyOS, with the main difference that the "Next" operating system was de ...
, and
Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...
. The game was first released in
mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...
on 26 November 2015. In October 2016, an international adaptation, ''
Arena of Valor ''Arena of Valor'' (), formerly ''Strike of Kings'', is an international adaptation of '' Honor of Kings'' (), a multiplayer online battle arena developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Level Infinite for Android, iOS and Nintendo Switc ...
'', was released, utilizing the same
game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...
but altering the user interfaces and
heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...
to accommodate the Western market. As of November 2020, ''Honor of Kings'' had over 3 million daily active players, making it one of the most popular games in the world. It is the highest-grossing mobile game of all time and one of the most downloaded apps globally. In June 2022,
Level Infinite Tencent Games () is the video game publishing subdivision of Tencent Interactive Entertainment, the digital entertainment division of Tencent Holdings. It has five internal studio groups, including TiMi Studio Group. Tencent Games was founded i ...
, the publisher of ''Arena of Valor'', announced that ''Honor of Kings'' would be released globally through a separate version by the end of 2022. In May 2024, the worldwide launch of Global version was announced for 20 June 2024, following pre-releases in
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
as well as countries in the
Middle East and North Africa The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...
,
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
, and the
Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...
. ''Honor of Kings'' was the highest-grossing mobile game in the world in 2024, with $2.6 billion gross.


Overview

''Honor of Kings'' is a quick-match (15–20 minutes) mobile
multiplayer online battle arena Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of Gamer, players compete on a structured battlefield, each controlling a single Player character, character with distinctive abilit ...
(MOBA) game. Either a
Tencent QQ Tencent QQ (), also known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service and web portal developed by the Mainland Chinese technology company Tencent. QQ offers services that provide online social games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, ...
account or a
WeChat WeChat or Weixin in Chinese ( zh, c=微信, p=Wēixìn , l=micro-message) is an instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment mobile app, app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile a ...
account is required to play the game. Following an update on 24 September 2020, a player can add friends and invite people from different platforms to guilds. ''Honor of Kings'' was the second-highest earning mobile game worldwide for February 2021, with $218.5 million in gross revenue, which represented 57.2% year-over-year growth from February 2020. About 95.6% of ''Honor of Kings''' revenue was from
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, followed by 1.6% from
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
.


Gameplay

''Honor of Kings'' is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game in which the player controls a character with unique abilities and competes to defeat
non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...
s and opponents to gain
experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...
s and gold. With experience points, players can unlock their characters' abilities or further augment the power of their existing abilities.The highest level that each hero can reach in the game is level 15. Each level up not only improves the attribute values of the character you control, but also gives you a skill point to upgrade your skills. There is a character called "Jiang Ziya" in the game who can use his unique "Fengshen" skill to remove the level limit for himself and another character. However, after level 15, he can only improve the attribute values of the character. Gold can be used to purchase items at the shop that uniquely change specific attributes of the character. To win a game, players need to knock down the enemy's defensive structures, called turrets. Victory is achieved by destroying the opponent's base crystal, located within the enemy team's base. Specific gameplay mechanics vary depending on the game mode chosen. Experience and gold are also earned across matches and applied to player accounts. Accounts start at level 1, with level 30 being the maximum level. Upon leveling up, users receive bonus in-game awards. Leveling up also unlocks certain summoners' abilities that can be applied to every hero the summoner uses. Gold can be used for a variety of purposes, such as purchasing new heroes.


Types of Damage


Physical Damage

It is the most common damage in the game and appears with damage numbers in red. Physical damage can be decreased by armor.


Magical Damage

It appears with damage numbers in purple. Magical damage can be decreased by magical resistance.


True Damage

It is the most powerful damage. This damage cannot be reduced by armor, it can be only decreased by damage-decrease buffs or skills.


Critical Damage

It deals massive damage in crit chance (percentage %); it can be physical, magical or true damage.


Game modes

''Honor of Kings'' has a variety of game modes, with a majority of them focused on competitive matchmaking. Without a network connection, players can play the stand-alone mode. With a network connection, players can choose a variety of battle modes, in which players can either face off against each other in
player versus player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents and is usually of ...
matches (including 1v1, 3v3, 5v5) or participate in various
player versus environment Player versus environment (PvE, also known as player versus monster (PvM) and commonly misinterpreted as player versus entity) is a term used for both single player and online games, particularly MMORPGs, CORPGs, MUDs, other online role-playing ...
adventure modes. In each of the player versus player modes, there are options to battle AI (computer) opponents. The AI can be set on easy, normal, or hard difficulty. Also, players can open 'rooms' where they can invite and battle a friend or recent battle teammate or opponent. There is also an option to open a 'draft room' for a 5v5 in which everybody is invited by someone else in the room.


Rift of Kings (5v5)

Rift of Kings (known as Hero's Gorge in the international release) is the most commonly played game mode. This mode is used in KPL competitions, the ranked game mode using the same game map (see Ranked below). Ten players, each controlling a hero, are split into two opposing teams of five. The teams start on opposing ends of the map, with the victory conditions either being to destroy the enemy's defense turrets in order to reach and destroy the enemy nexus base. To destroy the enemy nexus base, teams must destroy defense turrets, which are situated on the three main lanes—the top "clash" lane (对抗路), the middle lane (中路), and the bottom "farm" lane (发育路)—used to reach the enemy's nexus base. Nexus bases can restore health points slowly but defense turrets cannot. Heroes are protected by minions, which are periodically sent from the team's base. Without the protection of minions, heroes can be damaged by turrets. Turrets prioritize enemy minions within their vicinity, but will immediately target enemy heroes if they attack allied heroes within the turret's range. Each player can increase their hero's level and gain coins by killing enemy minions, heroes, or wild creatures situated between lanes, a wild area known as the 'jungle' (野区). Some creatures in the wild area also have certain
status effect In role-playing games, a status effect is a temporary modification to a game character’s original set of stats that usually comes into play when special powers and abilities (such as spells) are used, often during combat. It appears in numero ...
s benefits ('buffs') which increase their hero's attributes. There are five kinds of buffs: blue, red, tyrant, overlord, and tempest dragon (the strongest). For example, the blue buff is used to regenerate or improve mana, a resource which many mages and assassins use. The red buff is used to decrease the moving speed of the enemies, and it also deals a few 'real damage' (i.e., it cannot be blocked by shield and defense points), which is useful for warriors and marksmen. Both types of buffs last for 80 seconds. Ranked matchmaking (5v5) Once a player's account reaches level 6 and owns at least 5 heroes, they are able to participate in ranked matchmaking. There are a total of 7 large matchmaking tiers, namely Tough Bronze, Order of Silver, Glory of Gold, Noble Platinum, Eternal Diamond, Master Star, Super King, Peerless King, King of Glory, and Legendary King in ascending order. Each large tier is further subdivided into several smaller tiers, denoted by their respective
Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
in descending order. In the Bronze and Silver tiers, there are three smaller sub-tiers each (called Bronze III–I and Silver III–I); the Gold and Platinum tiers have four sub-tiers each (called Gold IV–I and Platinum IV–I); the Diamond and Master tiers have five sub-tiers each (called Diamond V–I and Master V–I). The King tier uses a star system to determine rankings. If King players reach to 25, 50, or 100 stars, they are automatically up to Peerless King, King of Glory, or Legendary King, respectively. The Legendary King is the highest tier for players to reach. Players are able to join matchmaking either solo, or in groups of 1, 2, 3, or 5. Groups of 5 will only be matched with other groups of 5, and the same applies to groups of 3. The game's matchmaking system will match appropriate teammates and opponents according to the player's rank and win rate. However, there are segment requirements for teams to participate in qualifying. With the exception of five, the player of the highest rank cannot exceed the player of the lowest rank by more than two rank. In each ranked game, stars can be gained or lost depending on the outcome of the match. Winning the match grants the player 1 star, while losing deducts 1 star. There are 3 stars in Bronze and Silver, 4 Stars in Gold and Platinum, and 5 stars in Diamond and Master in each smaller tier. If a player wins a match and max out their stars, they will be promoted to the next smaller/larger tier; losing with no stars in a small tier will deduct more stars. Top Match This mode is full of experts and highly technical players; participation requires a rank above Super King star one. Top Match players are not allowed to group with players of other ranks in the game. The nicknames of players are disabled and replaced by "Top Player" 1 to 10. The Match seasons, Honor-point system and Eagle-Eye Players The Honor-point system introduces a secondary method to stars. For instance, points may be earned in every match by not disconnecting in the middle of matches. Once earned, points will automatically be used to prevent the deduction of a star once; the points will return zero after star protection. In other cases, the player could be promoted to an 'Eagle-Eye Player'—someone who checks other players' in-game performance and punishes bad behavior—by maxing out points in the Honor system and doing a few tasks. Matchmaking rankings are reset periodically, with every reset being known as a competitive 'season'. Each season lasts approximately 3–4 months, with season awards being given to players according to the highest tier achieved. Each season has two skins that need to pay for the VIP award. Season points in the season portal will grant players season tokens (used to buy chests or skin chips, only usable in a single season), free skin chest, diamonds, and other special effects. The rank achieved at the end of a season is also used to calculate the starting rank for the next season. The rank will drop depending on how many stars a player has.


Battle of Changping (3v3)

The basic rules are similar to other game modes, with a total of 6 players (3 on each team). However, unlike other 5v5 game modes, there is only one lane to the enemy's base, with two wild areas to either side. Each team has two defense turrets, different from three in normal 5v5 mode. The victory conditions are the same as normal 5v5 game modes.


Mo Zi’s Lane of Gear (1v1)

This is a
single combat Single combat is a duel between two single combatants which takes place in the context of a battle between two army, armies. Instances of single combat are known from Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The champions were often combatants wh ...
mode with only 2 players facing each other. In this mode, there is only one defense turret, and no wild area except river soul. Players only need to destroy their opponent's single turret to win.


Arcade Modes

In this section, there are multiple game modes containing interesting buffs and playing methods.


Infinite Brawl (5v5)

The basic rules are similar to Valley of Kings, however, this game mode has a faster pace. The defense turret has lower health, and the minions move faster. Every hero starts at level 2 and can gain gold and levels faster. The average game time is ten minutes. Buffs are created randomly every two minutes, such as the cooling down time of abilities shortened by 40%, the damage of abilities increased by 30%, the movement of heroes increased by 150 points, or the attack speed of the turret decreased by 50%. Additional abilities include a hook, which can drag an opponent to the player's side, and invisibility, which is removed when the player fights or goes near an opponent. This game mode requires players to dynamically adjust tactics according to buffs to achieve victory.


Dreamland Clash (5v5)

In this mode, the game randomizes heroes. Players can spend diamonds to reroll a new random hero, putting the unchosen one into a selection pool from which their teammates can choose. If the player leaves the spawn area, they will not be allowed to buy weapons until respawn. The arena only has one middle lane and a path that can generate healing or buffs. As time goes on, the path will collapse and there will be one main lane to fight on. The minions are slightly different as well. Some minions have a healing sign; if killed by a hero, it drops a healing prop. When a player destroys their opponent's second turret, special minions with more attacking damage are generated.


King Chess (8 players)

In this mode, there are eight players in total. Each turn, players are presented with five random cards representing different heroes, for which players can pay gold to purchase the heroes and place them on their own chess board. More powerful heroes cost more gold. Each hero starts with one star, and having three same heroes grants this hero two stars. The maximum star level is three. After each player places their heroes on the board, there are fights of heroes between two players, with the defeated player losing health points. The fights take turns until the last player stands. The ranking system is similar to Ranked Matching (5v5).


Fiery Mountain Battle (5v5)

This arena is circular and divided into three main lanes (top, middle, and bottom). Each player will spawn in either location A or B randomly. Each player starts with 800 initial gold, level 2, and an additional ability of fireball. Locations 1, 2, and 3 will spawn jungle creatures. Outside each lane is filled with lava which slows and damages players. Each game has a time limit of ten minutes; the first team to reach thirty kills wins immediately. The additional ability of fireball causes no damage, but has a knockback effect. This game mode has three kinds of random buffs, including 30 seconds of control-free effect, increasing movement speed, and increasing cooldown speed by 40%. The respawn time for each player is 15 seconds and the respawned player will be placed randomly within the arena.


Clone Fight (5v5)

The clone fight opens from Friday to Sunday. A few heroes are banned to make the game fair. The basic rules are similar to Rift of Kings; however, the hero selection stage is different. In each game, the five players vote for heroes, with the hero with the most votes being the one that the whole team uses for the entire game. If there is a tie, the system will choose one hero randomly. The two parties could use the same hero as well.


Special Modes

Some modes are rarely appear in arcade modes, such as awakening brawl or snow racetrack. These modes are only playable on special days, such as 55 Gaming Day or during the
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...
.


Characters

Players may choose between a wide variety of heroes, each with special abilities, cosmetic skins and backstories. There are a total of 125 heroes, generally classified as either Tank, Fighter, Assassin, Mage, Marksman, or Support. Some heroes originated from the mythical story of China (such as
Pangu Pangu or Pan Gu (also sometimes spelled Peng Gu and P’an-ku) ( zh, t=盤古, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology and in Taoism. According to legend, Pangu separated heaven and earth, and his body later became ge ...
), while others are famous people from Chinese history (such as
Guan Yu Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on ...
). The game also has its own heroes (such as Luban No.7) based on its original story. When controlling a character, players can listen to famous quotations that express the character's personality. Many of these are excerpted or adapted from classical poetry or popular movies. In ''Arena of Valor'', most Chinese characters are replaced by
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
and
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
heroes, including
Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
,
The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...
, and Jinnar. The more recognizable figures that remain like
Sun Wukong Sun Wukong (, Mandarin pronunciation: ), also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel ''Journey to the West''. In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monk ...
are visually re-designed for Western audiences. Currently, there are 3 ''Arena of Valor'' heroes (Allain, Ata, Butterfly) which have been transferred to global server of ''Honor of Kings'', with Allain being transferred to the Chinese server as well. Additionally, Ata replaces Zhu Bajie from the Chinese server to avoid from getting offended with portrayal of pig characters in video games.


Collaborations & adaptations


SNK

In 2019, Timi L1 Studio collaborated with Japanese gaming company
SNK is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company established many franchises ...
to feature
Mai Shiranui is a character in the ''Fatal Fury'' and ''The King of Fighters'' series of fighting games by SNK. Introduced in 1992's ''Fatal Fury 2'', the character was originally conceived as a male character named "Ninja Master", but when a request was pu ...
from the ''
Fatal Fury ''Fatal Fury'', known as in Japan, is a fighting game series developed by SNK, first released on the Neo Geo system. Gameplay The original ''Fatal Fury'' is known for the two-plane system. Characters fight from two different planes. By step ...
'' and ''
The King of Fighters ''The King of Fighters'' (''KOF'') is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with the release of ''The King of Fighters '94'' in 1994. The series was initially developed for SNK's Neo Geo (system), Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware and received ...
'' series, and Charlotte,
Ukyo Tachibana ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place i ...
, and
Nakoruru is a fictional character in the '' Samurai Shodown'' (''Samurai Spirits'' in Japan) series of fighting games by SNK. She is one of the series' best known and most popular characters alongside its main protagonist Haohmaru, and was introduced in ...
from the ''
Samurai Shodown ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place i ...
''
series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...
as guest characters in ''Honor of Kings'', with Haohmaru as a skin for Musashi. Similarly, Arli (Gongsun Li), a character from ''Honor of Kings'', also appears as a playable guest character in ''
Samurai Shodown ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place i ...
'' (2019). They would collaborate once again in the game ''Metal Slug: Awakening'', having Alessio, Lady Sun and Marco Polo as the current ''Honor of Kings'' guest characters, along with ''Arena of Valor'''s Violet.


Messi

In 2018, the studio contracted with
Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...
to add a new Messi skin for the hero Pei on the opening day of the
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...
. This rare skin was only sold for a few days in a year.


''Jujutsu Kaisen''

Just after the 2024 ''Honor of Kings'' Championship, they made a collaboration with ''
Jujutsu Kaisen is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami. It was serialized in Shueisha's Shōnen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from March 2018 to September 2024, with its chapters collected in 30 volumes. The ...
'', an anime series based on manga written by
Gege Akutami is a Japanese manga artist known for the manga series ''Jujutsu Kaisen''. Biography Gege Akutami was born in Iwate Prefecture, afterwards he moved to Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture in fifth grade. Akutami began drawing manga by mimicking a frie ...
. The collaboration featuring Biron as
Yuji Itadori is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the manga series ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' created by Gege Akutami. Yuji is a first-year Jujutsu Sorcerer at Tokyo Jujutsu High who is thrown into the world of sorcery after he ate a Cursed Object ...
, Kongming as
Satoru Gojo is a fictional character from Gege Akutami's manga ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0''. He was first introduced in Akutami's short series ''Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School'' as the mentor of the cursed teenager Yuta Okkotsu at Tokyo Prefectural Juju ...
, and Garo as Mei Mei, under the skin name "Gloweast". As of February 2025, the cast will also include Lady Sun as
Nobara Kugisaki is a fictional character in the manga series ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' created by Gege Akutami. A first-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High, an academy to hone Cursed Techniques to fight against Cursed Spirits arising from negative emotions from human ...
, Sima Yi as
Megumi Fushiguro is a fictional character of the manga series ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' created by Gege Akutami. He is a first-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High, an academy to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer and develop Cursed Techniques to fight against Cursed Spirits, bein ...
and Guiguzi as Cathy. The collaboration also feature avatars and battle interactive stickers to user. This collaboration will not be available in China server.


Secret Level

In August 2024, it was revealed that the game would feature in ''Secret Level'', a video game
anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...
series for Amazon Prime Video.


History

After Tencent fully acquired Riot Games in 2015, Tencent asked them to make a mobile version of ''League of Legends'', as
multiplayer online battle arena Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of Gamer, players compete on a structured battlefield, each controlling a single Player character, character with distinctive abilit ...
(MOBA) games were very rare on mobile at the time, with ''Vainglory (video game), Vainglory'' by Super Evil Megacorp (formed by ex-employees of Riot Games) being the only notable title. Tencent wanted to seize the opportunity to dominate the underserved mobile market. However, Riot Games declined, as mobile was not commonly seen as a platform for competitive games; it claimed that the gameplay of ''League of Legends'' could not be replicated on smartphones. Despite the refusal, the video game development studios Lightspeed & Quantum Studios and TiMi Studios (both owned by Tencent) raced to develop a MOBA game that fit the bill, resulting an internal competition. Lightspeed & Quantum's ''We MOBA'' and TiMi's ''League of Kings'' (rough translation from ) were launched on the same day, on 18 August 2015. A month later, ''We MOBA'' was already the third most-downloaded mobile game on Apple's iOS worldwide, according to app analytics firm App Annie, while ''League of Kings'' trailed far behind. ''League of Kings'' was taken down for an overhaul, and later relaunched in October 2015. TiMi Studio Group, TiMi Studios used ''League of Legends'' as a base model to overhaul ''League of Kings'', resulting both games having many similarities. ''League of Kings'' also implemented a 5v5 game mode due to the game previously having poor reception with its 3v3 concept. This time, ''League of Kings'' overtook ''We MOBA'' and won the internal competition; Tencent subsequently invested additional resources into the ''League of Kings'' to ensure its success. Nevertheless, Riot Games deemed that the design of characters and abilities in ''League of Kings'' was "blatantly ripping off the intellectual property of ''League of Legends''" after they discovered how the game was produced, and reportedly brought these concerns to Tencent. Tencent responded that they would change its own game enough to sell as a standalone product with no relation to ''League of Legends''. Despite this, ''League of Kings'' had already gained massive popularity in China at this point due to the game being advertised as a "mobile version of ''League of Legends''" through social media and word-of-mouth marketing. Tencent felt that it was too late to make huge changes to the game. Only necessary changes were made, and the game was renamed from ''League of Kings'' () to ''Honor of Kings'' (') on 26 November 2015 (marked as the official release date). The international release of ''Honor of Kings'' was cancelled; instead, the game was rebranded and featured different content for markets outside mainland China. This led to the creation of ''Arena of Valor'', which also served as a response to Riot Games' complaints of "potential intellectual property infringement". ''Arena of Valor'' was reported to have caused a gradually straining business relationship between Riot Games and Tencent. Tensions increased when Tencent used notable ''League of Legends'' players to promote ''Arena of Valor'' and its esports tournaments. Riot Games' complaints initiated a two-month marketing freeze for ''Arena of Valor'' and demands that Riot Games would be given the option to review all marketing plans, including a veto for use of select celebrity gamers. Nonetheless, Riot Games implied that their relationship with Tencent was still strong, and the conflict between them and their games was only "a bump in the road". Riot Games eventually acknowledged the potential of the mobile market for the MOBA genre, and agreed to develop a mobile title for ''League of Legends''. Tencent then temporarily pulled marketing plans for ''Arena of Valor'' in Europe and North America in 2019, clearing room for Riot Games' announcement a few months later. Riot Games announced their own mobile MOBA game, ''League of Legends: Wild Rift'' on 16 October 2019, the 10th anniversary of ''League of Legends''. By the end of May 2017, 54% of the game's players were female; a significant difference from the general trend of esports. The success of the MOBA genre on mobile inspired the creation of ''Pokémon Unite'', a ''Pokémon (video game series), Pokémon'' spin-off game developed by TiMi Studio in partnership with The Pokémon Company.


Esports

Honor of Kings professional leagues that started in 2025 are:Philippines Kings League(PKL),MY Honor of Kings League(MKL),Indonesia Kings Laga(IKL),Honor of Kings Major West League(KMW) and Honor of Kings Major East League(KME). Honor of Kings Esports is gaining popularity over time.Honor of Kings has been included as a game title in the Esports World Cup 2024 and 2025.


Revenue model

In 2016, the game had more than 50 million daily active users and more than 200 million registered users. The game grossed Renminbi, ¥10.4billion () in the last quarter of 2016. In November 2016, ''Honor of Kings'' topped the 2016 China pan entertainment festival "China IP index value list - game list top 10". In May 2017, it became the highest-grossing mobile game in the world. It had 160 million monthly active users. In May 2017, entertainer Lu Han was named ambassador of the game. In the month of February 2019, the game generated $1 billion. In 2020, the game grossed over $2.45 billion becoming the highest earning game of the year. ''Honor of Kings'' contributed about 50% of the Tencent's mobile gaming revenues in 2017 and it made about Renminbi, ¥3 billion in gross revenue in April 2017 (). In June 2017, the analysis company APP Annie reported that ''Honor of Kings'' was the number 1 mobile game (excluding Android games) in the world in terms of income generated, with first quarter revenue of the game reaching . A cosmetic hero skin of Zhao Yun also had sold for $22 million in one day. At the time, Tencent reported 200 million registered users with 50 million daily active users. The game grossed in the second quarter of 2017. Between the last quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2017, the game grossed . In response to the national day of mourning designated by China on 4 April 2020, for those who had given up their lives or had passed away from the COVID-19 pandemic, all of Tencent's games announced a 24-hour suspension of service, which included ''Honor of Kings''.


Soundtrack

The game's original soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer, Jeff Broadbent, Lorne Balfe, and Duncan Watt, and was performed and recorded by The Chamber Orchestra of London at Abbey Road Studios in London. A soundtrack album was released on 28 October 2015. The extended soundtrack released a year later included every special event soundtrack since the game's release. Multiple score composers collaborated on the album, including Howard Shore, Thomas Parisch, and Marcin Przybyłowicz, Marcin Przybylowicz. Years 3 and 4 theme music was composed by Neal Acree. Additional music was provided by Matthew Carl Earl, Obadiah Brown-Beach, and Angela Little. On 25 January 2020, Unisonar released the game's score digitally for the first time internationally. The score's executive producers are Sam Yang and Cheney Wu, with coordination by Channel Chen, production by Vivita Zheng and Thomas Parisch, and Hongfei Zhao serving as music director. The album, ''Honor of Kings Original Game Soundtrack, Vol. 1'', consists of 16 original tracks, and was produced by TiMi Audio. On 9 August 2024, ''Honor of Kings'' ''Original Game Soundtrack Collection 2024'' was released on streaming platforms in celebration of the global launch, featuring music from composers Laurent Courbier, Dmitrii Miachin, Ting Si Hao, and Jing Zhang.


Controversies

In March 2017, ''Honor of Kings'' was criticized by ''Guangming Daily'' for distorting Chinese history. ''Guangming Daily'' wrote that the game characters were inconsistent with historical narratives and traditional mythological narratives, and that it was keeping teenagers from forming authentic historical views. ''People's Daily'' republished these criticisms, including on its
WeChat WeChat or Weixin in Chinese ( zh, c=微信, p=Wēixìn , l=micro-message) is an instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment mobile app, app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile a ...
account and on Weibo. Criticism by ''Guangming Daily and People's Daily'' also prompted contrary responses in Mass media in China, Chinese media. ''China Daily'' wrote that some ancient Chinese poetry, Chinese poems appearing in ''Honor of Kings'' had become popular. ''21st Century Business Business Reviewer'' wrote that by re-writing traditional stories in a modern style, ''Honor of Kings'' enriched national culture. In April 2017, Tencent responded by adding introductions to the characters adapted from Chinese history and mythology. It sought to distinguish between historical and fictional narratives of the characters. ''China Youth Daily'' described the game as "digital opium" and noted several Video game addiction in China, game addiction cases involving ''Honor of Kings''. In Hangzhou, a middle school teacher wrote a widely-disseminated article calling for the game to be banned, attributing to it negative effects on teenagers' mental health. Shortly thereafter, a thirteen year-old in Hangzhou jumped off a building because his father prevented him from playing ''Honor of Kings'' and the ''Qianjiang Evening News'' called for a ban on the game. ''Southern Metropolis Daily'' reported that ''Honor of Kings'' had not implemented the national system that aimed to protect adolescents from video game addiction. On 3 July and 4 July, ''People's'' Daily published a pair of critical articles. On 4 July 2017, it was reported that the game owner's Tencent had suffered a loss of $14 billion, or 4.1%, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after the ''People's Daily'' criticized ''Honor of Kings'' as a "poison" for young people, calling the content "a twist of values and historical views" and addictive. ''Variety'' dubbed the two critical articles a "demonstration of the power of China's state-run media and propaganda machine". On 4 July, ''Honor of Kings'' implemented measures to reduce teenager's time playing the game. ''Honor of Kings'' started limiting children under the age of 12 to one hour of play time per day, with an additional restriction from playing after 9pm. Children aged from 12 to 17 were limited to two hours per day. It is believed that rising concerns over excessive gaming habits in children led Tencent to self-impose these restrictions. ''Honor of Kings'' producer Lin Min stated online that the game's design "fully complied with government requirements" and argued that "just like other forms of entertainment, games can be [a non-addictive] part of our normal daily lives". After these changes in ''Honor of Kings'', public and media debate about game addiction shifted towards debate about the role of family, school, education, and other factors. The value of Tencent stock increased shortly thereafter. On 31 October 2021, ''Honor of Kings'' updated its juvenile addiction prevention system following the requirement from National Press and Publication Administration. Under the new changes, juveniles only can log in to the game from 20:00 to 21:00 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and legal holidays. Although the anti-addiction system is a successful feature, it has somewhat reduced the economic revenue of ''Honor of Kings''. In 2022, ''For All Time'', a mobile game launched by NetEase, accused ''Honor of Kings'' of plagiarizing artwork, while in 2024, ''Onmyoji'', also a mobile game launched by NetEase, posted a letter from its law firm warning ''Honor of Kings'' for the new skins of the characters Li Bai and Dasiming comprised copyright infringement and unfair competition. Tencent vehemently denied both accusations. On 6 May 2024, it was announced that Tencent would cooperate with VNG Corporation, VNG to launch Global version of ''Honor of Kings'' in the Vietnam region. However, this information is just a false rumor said to be from a Facebook user and there has been absolutely no official information about the launch plan in this region as well as the entire Southeast Asia region so far. It is known that because it has not been launched in Vietnam and needs a domestic distribution partner to manage it, many rumors have arisen about Tencent's choice of partner, in which VNG Corporation, VNG is considered the most suitable publisher.


Notes


References


External links


Official website (original domestic version)Official website (Global version)
* {{Tencent Holdings 2015 video games Android (operating system) games IOS games Multiplayer online battle arena games Tencent Video games based on Chinese mythology Video games developed in China TiMi Studio Group games Level Infinite games