With more than 200 million monthly active players in China, Tencent’s competitive multiplayer game Arena of Valor (AKA Kings of Glory and Strike of Kings) is one of the most popular and profitable mobile games in the world. Today it launched in North America on iOS and Android. Who’s playing?
Arena of Valor is a fast-paced five-on-five mobile arena game featuring characters from folklore. It’s technically a port of the original game, released in 2015 as Kings of Glory, with Chinese folklore characters replaced with more European characters like fairies, knights and Batman.
I’ve played a bit of the game on Android, and it’s a tight little MOBA. The mechanics are pretty simple, especially compared to its PC cousin, League of Legends, making it an incredibly accessible free-to-play game.
I don’t know if Tencent will be racking up another couple hundred million players with the game’s North American launch, but it should definitely get some attention in the growing Western mobile esports scene. Arena of Valor is available now as a free download on Google Play and iTunes.