China’s Most Popular Mobile Game in Americas

The mobile game ‘Arena of Valor’ is all-consuming in its native China, with 200 million registered players and over 80 million daily active users. The game, known as Honor of Kings in its original form, is so popular in its homeland that tournaments are everywhere and the game has time limits to prevent kids from playing too long. According to Engadget.com, Tencent,  a leading provider of Internet value added services in China, wants it to become a household name in the rest of the world. In a confirmation of some earlier rumors, the tech giant is formally launching Arena of Valor worldwide on December 19, with users in North and South America getting their first crack at the Android and iOS hit. In the game, teams of five distinctive heroes clash in a bid to take over each other’s bases. It has been available in Europe since August, and has had at least some success with more than two million downloads. The problem, as The Verge notes, is that Chinese companies have historically had problems translating the success of their domestic games to an international audience. The titles rarely have any name recognition outside of China, and there are differences in gaming habits that make success difficult.