Honor of Kings makes MENA debut ahead of Esports World Cup

Tencent’s Honor of Kings is now available to play in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as well as Eastern Europe and South Asia.

Developer Level Infinite made the announcement which saw the popular MOBA game make its way to MENA on February 21, 2023 for the first time since it was first released in 2015.

Honor of Kings has a significant player base of around 100 million players, most of which are in China, the game’s primary region. The game has received recognition for dominating the MOBA market and is one of the first titles to popularise loot boxes in games.

Apart from the game’s financial success, research firm Sensor Tower also named it the second-highest-grossing mobile game in December just behind Monopoly GO. Honor of Kings was initially planned to release outside of China in 2017 but failed to gain significant traction.

Esports World Cup

Tencent is keen on mirroring the game’s domestic success with esports in international markets. This summer, Honor of Kings will participate in the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, offering a $3 million prize pool to 12 competing teams.

With its growing gaming community, the MENA region is a good opportunity for Honor of Kings to gain more popularity as one of the few games to feature in the first-ever Esports World Cup and solidify its second attempt at global expansion with plans to launch in North America, South America, and Western Europe later this year.

With the Midseason Invitational event set to commence in August, Level Infinite represents Tencent’s endeavour to rectify its global expansion strategy and delve deeper into the world of esports.