Honor of Kings
Honor of Kings | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | TiMi Studio Group |
Publisher(s) | Tencent Games (mainland China) Level Infinite (global) |
Director(s) | Li Min (game director) |
Composer(s) | 2WEI Elliot Leung Laurent Courbier Edouard Brenneisen Dmitrii Miachin Ting Si Hao Jingqing Xu Obadiah Brown-Beach Sterling Maffe HeartStrings Thomas Parisch Jeff Broadbent Neal Acree Hongfei Zhao Hiromi Mizutani Matthew Carl Earl Moeki Harada Miles Hankins Edwin Wendler Michal Cielecki Dong Liu Tan Dun Qiandan Zhang Mi Tan Daniel James lbg Steven Grove Robert A. Wolf Jing Zhang Howard Shore Hans Zimmer Lorne Balfe |
Platform(s) | Android, iOS |
Release | [1] |
Genre(s) | Multiplayer online battle arena |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer, single-player (bots) |
Honor of Kings (simplified Chinese: 王者荣耀; traditional Chinese: 王者榮耀; pinyin: Wángzhě Róngyào, unofficially translated as "King's Glory", or alternatively transliterated as Wangzhe Rongyao) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Tencent Games for the iOS and Android mobile platforms.
First released in mainland China on 26 November 2015, it has become one of the most relevant MOBA games in the country. An international adaptation, titled Arena of Valor, was released in October 2016; it utilizes the same game engine but greatly altered user interface designs and heroes to accommodate the Western market. As of November 2020, Honor of Kings had over 100 million daily active players, making it one of the most popular games in the world,[2] as well as the highest-grossing mobile game of all time.[a] Additionally, it is one of the most downloaded apps globally.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
In June 2022, Level Infinite, the publisher of Arena of Valor, announced that Honor of Kings would be released globally by the end of 2022.[15] In May 2024, the worldwide launch was announced for 20 June 2024, following pre-releases in Brazil and Turkey as well as countries in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.[16][17]
Overview
[edit]Honor of Kings is a quick-match (15–20 minutes) mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game. Either a Tencent QQ account or a WeChat account is required to play the game. Following an update on September 24, 2020, a player can add friends and invite people from different platforms to guilds.[18]
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, followed by 1.6% from Thailand.[19]
Gameplay
[edit]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 characters and opponents to gain experience points 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.[20]
Types of Damage
[edit]Physical Damage
[edit]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
[edit]It appears with damage numbers in purple. Magical damage can be decreased by magical resistance.
Critical Damage
[edit]It deals massive damage in crit chance (percentage %); it can be physical, magical or real damage.
Real Damage
[edit]It is the most powerful damage. This damage cannot be reduced by armor, it can be only decreased by damage-decrease buffs or skills.
Game modes
[edit]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 matches (including 1v1, 3v3, 5v5) or participate in various player versus environment 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)
[edit]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 effects 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. 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.
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 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.
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)
[edit]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)
[edit]This is a single combat 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
[edit]In this section, there are multiple game modes containing interesting buffs and playing methods.
Infinite Brawl (5v5)
[edit]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.[21]
Dreamland Clash (5v5)
[edit]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.[22]
King Chess (8 players)
[edit]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).[23]
Fiery Mountain Battle (5v5)
[edit]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.[24]
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.[24]
Clone Fight (5v5)
[edit]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.[25]
Special Modes
[edit]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.
Characters
[edit]Players may choose between a wide variety of heroes, each with special abilities, cosmetic skins and backstories. There are a total of 122 heroes,[26][27] generally classified as either Tank, Fighter, Assassin, Mage, Marksman, or Support.[28] Some heroes originated from the mythical story of China (such as Pan Gu), while others are famous people from Chinese history (such as Guan Yu). 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.[29]: 237 Many of these are excerpted or adapted from classical poetry or popular movies.[29]: 237
In Arena of Valor, most Chinese characters are replaced by American and Japanese heroes, including Batman, The Flash, and Jinnar.[29]: 242 The more recognizable figures that remain like Sun Wukong are visually re-designed for Western audiences.[29]: 242
Collaborations
[edit]This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2024) |
SNK
[edit]In 2019, Timi L1 Studio collaborated with Japanese gaming company SNK to feature Mai Shiranui from the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series and Charlotte, Ukyo Tachibana, Nakoruru, and Haohmaru from the Samurai Shodown series as guest characters in Honor of Kings. Similarly, Gongsun Li, a character from Honor of Kings, also appears as a playable guest character in Samurai Shodown (2019).[30]
Messi
[edit]In 2018, the studio contracted with Lionel Messi to add a new Messi skin for the hero Pei on the opening day of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This rare (王者荣耀裴擒虎梅西皮肤) skin was only sold for a few days in a year.
History
[edit]After Tencent fully acquired Riot Games in 2015,[31] Tencent asked them to make a mobile version of League of Legends, as multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games were very rare on mobile at the time, with Vainglory by Super Evil Megacorp (formed by ex-employees of Riot Games) being the only notable title.[32] Tencent wanted to seize the opportunity to dominate the underserved mobile market.[33]
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.[34]
Lightspeed & Quantum's We MOBA and TiMi's League of Kings (rough translation from 王者联盟; Wángzhě Liánméng) 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 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.[35][36]
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.[37] 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.[38]
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 (王者联盟; Wángzhě Liánméng) to Honor of Kings (王者荣耀; Wángzhě Róngyào) 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[how?] to Riot Games' complaints of "potential intellectual property infringement".[38]
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.[39] 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".[38]
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.[40] Riot Games announced their own mobile MOBA game, League of Legends: Wild Rift on 16 October 2019, the 10th anniversary of League of Legends.[41]
By the end of May 2017, 54% of the game's players were female; a significant difference from the general trend of esports.[29]: 236
The success of the MOBA genre on mobile inspired the creation of Pokémon Unite, a Pokémon spin-off game developed by TiMi Studio in partnership with The Pokémon Company.[42][43]
Revenue model
[edit]In 2016, the game had more than 50 million daily active users and more than 200 million registered users. The game grossed ¥10.4 billion[44] ($1.61 billion) 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".[45] In May 2017, it became the highest-grossing mobile game in the world.[46] It had 160 million monthly active users.[47] In May 2017, entertainer Lu Han was named ambassador of the game.[48] In the month of February 2019, the game generated $1 billion.[49] In 2020, the game grossed over $2.45 billion becoming the highest earning game of the year.[50]
Honor of Kings contributed about 50% of the Tencent's mobile gaming revenues in 2017 and it made about ¥3 billion in gross revenue in April 2017 ($435 million).[51] 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 $1.76 billion.[48] 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.[48] The game grossed $911 million in the second quarter of 2017.[52] Between the last quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2017, the game grossed $4.281 billion.
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
[edit]The game's original soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer, Jeff Broadbent, Lorne Balfe, and Duncan Watt,[53] 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.[54] 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 Przybylowicz.[55]
Years 3 and 4 theme music was composed by Neal Acree.[56] Additional music was provided by Matthew Carl Earl, Obadiah Brown-Beach, and Angela Little.[57]
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.[58][59]
On the 9th of August 2024, the Honor of Kings (Original Game Soundtrack Collection 2024) released on streaming platforms in celebration of the global launch, featuring music from composers Dmitrii Miachin[60], Ting Si Hao[61], and Jing Zhang[62].
Controversies
[edit]In March 2017, Honor of Kings was criticized by Guangming Daily for distorting Chinese history.[29]: 237 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.[29]: 237 People's Daily republished these criticisms, including on its WeChat account and on Weibo.[29]: 237
Criticism by Guangming Daily and People's Daily also prompted contrary responses in Chinese media.[29]: 237 China Daily wrote that some ancient Chinese poems appearing in Honor of Kings had become popular.[29]: 237 21st Century Business Business Reviewer wrote that by re-writing traditional stories in a modern style, Honor of Kings enriched national culture.[29]: 237
In April 2017, Tencent responded by adding introductions to the characters adapted from Chinese history and mythology.[29]: 238 It sought to distinguish between historical and fictional narratives of the characters.[29]: 238
China Youth Daily described the game as "digital opium" and noted several game addiction cases involving Honor of Kings.[29]: 238 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.[29]: 238 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.[29]: 238 Southern Metropolis Daily reported that Honor of Kings had not implemented the national system that aimed to protect adolescents from video game addiction.[29]: 239–239
On 3 July and 4 July, People's Daily published a pair of critical articles.[29]: 239 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.[11] Variety dubbed the two critical articles a "demonstration of the power of China's state-run media and propaganda machine".[11] On 4 July, Honor of Kings implemented measures to reduce teenager's time playing the game.[29]: 239 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.[63] 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".[11]
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.[29]: 239 The value of Tencent stock increased shortly thereafter.[29]: 239
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.[64] Although the anti-addiction system is a successful feature, it has somewhat reduced the economic revenue of Honor of Kings.[65]
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.[66]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ 王者荣耀11月26日正式公测 团战之夜再度来袭! (in Chinese). Tencent. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ Moghe, Divyesh (3 November 2020). "Tencent's Honor Kings hits 100M daily users on Mobile". TalkEsport. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ Lee, Emma (15 June 2017). "Tencent Megahit 'Honor of Kings' Becomes World's Top Grossing Game". China Film Insider. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Special Report: Evolution of Mobile Esports for the Mass Market (PDF). Niko Partners. August 2019. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
- ^ Chapple, Craig (9 January 2020). "Pokémon GO Has Best Year Ever in 2019". Sensor Tower. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Chapple, Craig (15 December 2020). "PUBG Mobile Tops List of Billion-Dollar Mobile Games in 2020". Sensor Tower. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Chapple, Craig (6 January 2021). "Call of Duty: Mobile Shoots Past $14 Million in First Week in China". Sensor Tower. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Chapple, Craig (16 December 2021). "Record-Breaking Eight Mobile Games Surpass $1 Billion in Global Player Spending During 2021". Sensor Tower. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "World's top grossing mobile game debunks gender stereotype". TechNode. 3 July 2017. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "Tencent's WeGame gaming platform goes online September 1st". TechNode. 18 August 2017. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ a b c d Chow, Vivienne (4 July 2017). "Tencent Loses $14 Billion After Criticism From Chinese Media". Variety. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ Lee, Amanda (5 July 2017). "Why Tencent's controversial Honour of King has 200 million players". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "Mobile game King of Glory so popular in China, Tencent has to limit game plays". AsiaOne. 14 August 2017. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Zhang, Pinghua (19 October 2021). "Tencent is Pitting the World's Biggest Battle Arena Games Against Each Other". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ Parrish, Ash (7 June 2022). "Honor of Kings to get a global release". The Verge. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Sheehan, Gavin (18 May 2024). "Honor of Kings Continues Global Rollout To New Areas In June". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
- ^ Wu, Jessie (21 June 2024). "Tencent's hit mobile game Honor of Kings expands to over 160 countries". TechNode. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
- ^ Arora, Karanveer Singh (2 November 2020). "Honor of Kings becomes the most popular mobile game globally: Everything to know about it". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 21 August 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "Top Grossing Mobile Games Worldwide for February 2021". March 2021. Archived from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "如何玩好王者荣耀?还有原理?" [The gameplay principle of Glory of Kings]. 知乎专栏 (in Chinese). 知乎-Know almost. 13 November 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ "王者荣耀无限乱斗模式介绍 王者荣耀无限乱斗怎么玩 _pc6资讯". www.pc6.com (in Chinese). 28 June 2017. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "王者荣耀梦境大乱斗玩法介绍 王者荣耀梦境大乱斗攻略_18183王者荣耀专区". www.18183.com (in Chinese). 5 June 2019. Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "王者荣耀下棋模式介绍_游侠网". mip.ali213.net (in Chinese). 31 December 2019. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ a b "王者荣耀火焰山大战攻略 火焰山玩法指南_地图介绍、随机buff、火球、大火球 _ 游民星空手游频道". www.gamersky.com (in Chinese). 5 August 2019. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "王者荣耀克隆大作战玩法详细介绍_UC百科网". www.ucbaike.com (in Chinese). 29 June 2020. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ "英雄资料列表页-英雄介绍-王者荣耀官方网站-腾讯游戏" [Hero Information List Page-Hero Introduction-Honor of Kings Official Website-Tencent Games]. pvp.qq.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ William, Tedy (10 March 2023). "Honor of Kings All Heroes (Global Version)". DroidLocal. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ "王者百科 基础名词解释-王者荣耀官方网站-腾讯游戏zh" [Encyclopedia of Kings-Explanation of Basic Nouns]. pvp.qq.com. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Li, Jiaqi; Eyman, Douglas; Sun, Hongmei (2024). "The Public Gaming Discourse of Honor of Kings in China". In Guo, Li; Eyman, Douglas; Sun, Hongmei (eds.). Games & Play in Chinese & Sinophone Cultures. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295752402.
- ^ sina_mobile (24 July 2020). "zh《王者荣耀》SNK联动:公孙离植入《侍魂 晓》" ["Glory of the King" SNK linkage: Gongsunli implanted in "Samurai Soul Dawn"]. tech.sina.cn. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ Frank, Allegra (16 December 2015). "Riot Games now owned entirely by Tencent". Polygon. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Henry Reeve (10 November 2014). "Ex-Riot Games Developers Bring Vainglory MOBA to iOS". eTeknix. Archived from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "虚荣的倒下,证明了手游只适合王者荣耀模式,点触操作不适合手游" [The fall of Vainglory proves that mobile games are only suitable for the King of Glory mode]. www.163.com. Youth Esports Club. 10 December 2020. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ Jao, Nicole (22 June 2020). "Tencent: Dog-eat-dog Gaming Empire". Tech In Asia. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Ye, Josh (4 January 2021). "Before 'Honor Of Kings' became the world's most popular game, it was a desperate experiment". The Star. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Ye, Josh (2 January 2021). "Before Tencent's Honor of Kings went viral, it was a desperate experiment". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Custer, Christopher (27 July 2016). "China top mobile game is a complete League of Legends ripoff". Tech in Asia. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ a b c Mickunas, Aaron (13 August 2018). "Riot's relationship with Tencent has reportedly been strained over declining profits and mobile games". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Batchelor, James (5 June 2019). "Tencent reportedly gives up on Arena of Valor". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Nuruljihad, Andy (5 November 2020). "League of Legends: Wild Rift enters the mobile MOBA arena". Gamesforum. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Webster, Andrew (15 October 2019). "League of Legends coming to mobile". The Verge. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Phillips, Tom (24 June 2020). "Pokémon Unite is a new free-to-play MOBA from Tencent". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Desatoff, Sam (2 July 2020). "Pokémon Unite leverages TiMi Studio's pedigree in the MOBA genre". GameDaily.biz. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "World's top-grossing game Honour of King is coming to Europe and the US". TechNode. 7 July 2017.
- ^ Zhang, Ruomeng (张若梦) (30 November 2016). "2016中国泛娱乐指数盛典"在京颁奖 《火星情报局》等榜上有名[组图]_图片中国_中国网. www.china.com.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Lee, Emma (15 June 2017). "Tencent's megahit Honour of King becomes world's top grossing game". TechNode. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Liao, Rita (3 July 2017). "World's top grossing mobile game debunks gender stereotype". TechNode. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ a b c Shi, Qi (16 August 2023). "《王者荣耀》单月吸金16亿遥遥领先 世界第一" ["Honor of Kings" attracts 1.6 billion in revenue in a single month, ranking first in the world]. 快科技. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ Freeman, Will (12 March 2019). "Honor of Kings: One Game banks USD$1bn in One Month". The Gaming Economy. Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Valentine, Rebekah (6 January 2021). "Digital game reveues in 2020". gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Altay, Omer (23 May 2017). "Tencent's King of Glory Mobile MOBA Making $435M a MONTH". MMOs.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Markets, Research and (7 March 2023). "China Online Gaming Market Forecast 2023 to 2027: Mobile Gaming has Grown Continuously and Remains a Main Factor to Boost Growth". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ "Honor of Kings (Arena of Valor/Kings of Glory) Nominated for Best Music in a Casual/Social Game at the 14th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards". 16 February 2016. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ 殿堂级音乐揭秘 [Legendary music revealed] (in Chinese). QQ. 7 November 2015. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ 奥斯卡大师打造,长安之声震撼揭秘 [Academy Awards winning mastermind, the Chang'an City soundtrack reveals] (in Chinese). 29 March 2018. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ K, Yu (29 March 2019). "《王者荣耀》2.0资料片荣获全球音乐金奖-7k7k手游" ["Honor of Kings" 2.0 expansion pack won the Global Music Gold Award]. m.7k7k.com. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ "Credits". Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Nieva, Jason (6 January 2020). "Honor Of Kings Soundtrack Worldwide Release Coming This Month". Player.One. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "Unisonar to Bring the Music of "Honor of Kings", China's Top Mobile Game, to the Rest of the World". Gamasutra. 6 January 2020. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ LiBai, Shattered Moon Op, 9 August 2024, retrieved 18 November 2024
- ^ "Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Tencent limiting Honour of King play time for Chinese kids". nine.com.au. 4 July 2017. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "新闻详情-王者荣耀官方网站-腾讯游戏". pvp.qq.com. 31 August 2021. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ sina_mobile (16 November 2022). "腾讯最新财报披露:未成年人"防沉迷新规"一年后,《王者荣耀》《和平精英》收入减少". finance.sina.cn. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ Yang Caini (25 May 2024). "China's Top Tech Giants Clash on Social Media Over Plagiarism Claims". Sixth Tone.