Tencent claims that the Honor of Kings mobile game has 100 M, regular users

Tencent’s mobile game Honor of Kings said he had reached 100 million active users daily during its five-year anniversary gala, attended by celebrities, esports stars, and orchestras. The title not only smashed the user records but also produced other never before seen achievements.

For one, it is consistently ranked among the top-grossing mobile games in the world, jostling with PUBG Mobile made by another Tencent Studio Lightspeed & Quantum — gaming has long been a cash cow for Tencent, best known for its WeChat messenger. The brain behind Honor of Kings is TiMi Studios, which started recruiting more in U.S. global expansion in the U.S. this year.

The game is credited with popularising the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre in China using smart designs such as short sessions, friendly controls, esports integration, and social networking leverage, as Game Analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed out. The game has an exceptionally high female player base — about 50 percent — for a male-dominated genre.

While not often seen as an original developer, Tencent is a pioneer in mobile game monetization models and can be a sought-after Western studio partner. Name one of them was the development of the mobile edition of Activision’s Call of Duty, which exceeded 250 million downloads in June. 

Controversy also emerged in the honor of Kings’ fervor. It was chastised by the state newspaper for hooking young consumers and for distorting historical events. Tencent has also tightened age verification tests for players, now the normal procedure in the gaming industry in China.

TiMi unveiled its milestone at a time when Riot Games is testing a mobile version of League of Legends, generally regarded as a pc blockbuster that first inspired Honor of Kings. The overseas version of Honor of Kings, the Arena of Valor, had limited success outside Asia. It is now time for Riot, completely acquired by Tencent in 2015, to test its own perception, Wild Rift. 

As part of the announcement, TiMi also announced that it is capitalizing on the Honor of Kings for IP derivative works, including two new games in new genres, an anime, and a TV series.