King of Glory

King of Glory (Chinese: 王者荣耀; pinyin: Wángzhě Róngyào), also translated as Honor of Kings and Strike of Kings, is a multiplayer online battle arena published by Tencent Games.^[2] In July 2017, it was reported that the game had over 80 million users.^[2]

History

The game received a beta release for iOS and Android platforms on November 26, 2015. In addition to a PVE adventure mode, the game features PVP multiplayer battles. The game features many similarities to League of Legends which is produced by Riot Games, a company owned by Tencent.^[3][4] In November 2016, King of Glory topped the 2016 China pan entertainment festival "China IP index value list - game list top 10".^[5]

In 2016, the game had more than 50 million daily active users and more than 200 million registered users. In May 2017 it became the highest-grossing mobile game in the world^[6] and it had 160 million monthly active users.^[7] In May 2017, entertainer Lu Han was named ambassador of the game.^[8]

In June 2017, the analysis company APP Annie reported that King of Glory was the number 1 mobile game (excluding Android games) in the world in terms of income generation, with first quarter revenue of the game reaching US $1.76 billion. A 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.^[8]

On July 4, 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 King of Glory as “poison” for young people, calling the content “a twist of values and historical views” and addictive.^[2] Variety dubbed the two critical articles a “demonstration of the power of China’s state-run media and propaganda machine.”^[2] King of Glory producer Lin Min afterwards noted 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.”^[2]

Gameplay and platforms

The gameplay of King of Glory highly resembles another game published by Tencent, League of Legends.^[4]

The game requires either a Tencent QQ account or a WeChat account. However the servers are not completely in sync. If using the same account type on different platform, multiplayer with your WeChat friend is possible however many functions in game are disabled (daily gifting, profile viewing and clan inviting). Different account types cannot access the other's matchmaking queue, even on the same platform.

Spin-offs

Arena of Valor (formerly Strike of Kings) , which has other names in some markets, published by Garena in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and some Southeast Asian countries, by Proxima Beta in Europe, and by Netmarble Games in South Korea, is an adaption of King of Glory for markets outside mainland China. The game is developed and licensed by Tencent Games with the same engine, design and music composing team.

References