Honor of Kings surpasses 50 million downloads in under a month

Publisher Level Infinite announced that Honor of Kings surpassed 50 million downloads outside of China in less than a month since its global debut, though it’s unclear whether that includes downloads from the markets it was already available in for its soft launch. In any case, it looks like Tencent’s move to throw a third heavyweight contender into the heavily contested mobile market for MOBAs is paying off, though we’re yet to see possible long-term ramifications for its sister games, League of Legends: Wild Rift and Arena of Valor.

TiMi Studios’ Honor of Kings was released worldwide on June 20, 2024, for iOS and Android as a thoroughly westernized version of the successful Chinese original. 

In a Q&A ahead of release, publisher Level Infinite was confident that Honor of Kings would find success despite Tencent already having two highly successful mobile MOBAs on the market.

“We feel there is a place for a MOBA that takes the essence of MOBAs on PC and delivers strategic yet fun team-based battles,” the publisher said. “We believe we have a great gaming experience that players, wherever they are from, will enjoy and we want to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to try the game, join the community, make new friends and experience competitive, yet fair, team battles.”

Going even further, the publisher said that “with unique Hero designs and refined game operations, we believe that Honor of Kings possesses a competitive advantage in the mobile MOBA market.”

Level Infinite originally wanted Honor of Kings to be out in 2022, but took two years of additional time to get elements like localization and the inclusion of cutting-edge technology just right. This effort, it appears, is bearing fruit.

Players downloading the game now benefit from a variety of free rewards and bonuses that are part of the game’s release celebrations.