Wangzhe Rongyao

Publisher(s) Tencent Games
Platform(s) Android, iOS
Release iOS, Android
Genre(s) Multiplayer online battle arena
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Wangzhe Rongyao[2] (Chinese: 王者荣耀; pinyin: Wángzhě Róngyào, variably known in English unofficial translations as King of Glory, Kings of Glory, Honor of King or Honour of King, and alternatively transliterated as Wang Zhe Rong Yao), a multiplayer online battle arena developed and published by Tencent Games for the iOS and Android mobile platforms, exclusively for the Chinese market. By 2017, Wangzhe Rongyao has had over 80 million daily active players and 200 million monthly active players, and was both the world's most popular and highest grossing game of all time as well as the most downloaded app globally.[3][4][5][6][7][8] In September 2017, Nintendo announced a partnership with Tencent to bring the game to the Nintendo Switch. The game's international version has been released in 2017 as Arena of Valor, featuring different content.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Wangzhe Rongyao highly resembles the game called League of Legends developed and published by Riot Games, a company owned by Tencent.[9]

The Chinese version of the game requires either a Tencent QQ account or a WeChat account. Other versions of the game can be played as a guest, which can later be linked to a Facebook account. The Garena AOV versions of the game (published by Garena) require either a Garena or a Facebook 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.

History

In 2015, Tencent approached Riot Games and asked them to turn their popular game League of Legends into a mobile title. However, Riot declined and claimed that League of Legends's gameplay couldn’t be replicated on smartphones. Tencent then preceded to create their own mobile game, Wangzhe Rongyao, roughly translated to English as Honor of Kings.[10]

The game received a beta release for iOS and Android platforms on November 26, 2015. In addition to a player versus environment (PvE) parkour mode, running mode, the game features player versus player (PvP) multiplayer battles. The game features many similarities to League of Legends.[11][9] In November 2016, Wangzhe Rongyao topped the 2016 China pan entertainment festival "China IP index value list - game list top 10".[12]

In 2016, the game had more than 50 million daily active users and more than 200 million registered users. The game grossed ¥10.4 billion[13] ($1.61 billion) in the last quarter of 2016. In May 2017, it became the highest-grossing mobile game in the world.[14] It had 160 million monthly active users.[15] In May 2017, entertainer Lu Han was named ambassador of the game.[16]

According to an analyst at BOC International, Wangzhe Rongyao will contribute about 50% of the Tencent's mobile gaming revenues in 2017 and it made about 3 billion Yuan in gross revenue in April 2017 ($435 million).[17] In June 2017, the analysis company APP Annie reported that Wangzhe Rongyao 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 $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.[16] The game grossed $911 million in the second quarter of 2017.[18] Between the last quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2017, the game grossed $4.281 billion.

In September 2017, Nintendo announced a deal with Tencent to bring Wangzhe Rongyao to the Nintendo Switch as Arena of Valor for international markets. As the console is not yet officially available in mainland China at this point in time, analysts anticipated that to support this deal, Nintendo would have to release the console in China by 2019.[19][20] Tencent is yet to comment in regards to a global release, even after public scrutiny

Music

The game's music was composed by Hans Zimmer, Jeff Broadbent, Lorne Balfe and Duncan Watt,[21] and was performed and recorded by The Chamber Orchestra of London at Abbey Road Studios in London.

A soundtrack album was released on 28 October 2015.[22] The extended soundtrack released in year two includes every special event soundtrack since the game's release. Multiple score composers collaborated the album including Howard Shore, Thomas Parisch and Marcin Przybylowicz.[23]

Addiction concerns

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 Wangzhe Rongyao as “poison” for young people, calling the content “a twist of values and historical views” and addictive.[5] Variety dubbed the two critical articles a “demonstration of the power of China’s state-run media and propaganda machine.”[5] Wangzhe Rongyao 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.”[5]

In July 2017, Wangzhe Rongyao started limiting children under the age of 12 to one hour of play time per day. Children aged 12 to 18 will be limited to two hours game time per day. Players under 12 will also be banned from playing the game after 9pm. It is believed that rising concerns over excessive gaming habits in children led Tencent, the game owner, to self-impose these restrictions.[24]

References

    1. ↑ "王者荣耀11月26日正式公测 团战之夜再度来袭！" (in Chinese). Tencent. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
    2. ↑ "What's in a name? A mobile game - Opinion - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
    3. ↑ "World's top grossing mobile game debunks gender stereotype". TechNode. 3 July 2017.
    4. ↑ "Tencent's WeGame gaming platform goes online September 1st". TechNode. 18 August 2017.
    5. 1 2 3 4 Chow, Vivienne (July 4, 2017). "Tencent Loses $14 Billion After Criticism From Chinese Media". Variety. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
    6. ↑ "Why Tencent's controversial Honour of King has 200 million players". South China Morning Post.
    7. ↑ "Mobile game King of Glory so popular in China, Tencent has to limit game plays". AsiaOne.
    8. ↑ Moyen, Motek (28 August 2017). "Tencent's 'Honor Of King' Will Cannibalize International Sales Of 'League Of Legends'". Seeking Alpha.
    9. 1 2 "League of Legends is so lucrative, its maker is in no rush to release another game". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
    10. ↑ Mickunas, Aaron. "Riot's relationship with Tencent has reportedly been strained over declining profits and mobile games". dotesports. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
    11. ↑ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
    12. ↑ 张若梦. ""2016中国泛娱乐指数盛典"在京颁奖 《火星情报局》等榜上有名[组图]_图片中国_中国网". www.china.com.cn. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
    13. ↑ "World's top-grossing game Honour of King is coming to Europe and the US". TechNode. July 7, 2017.
    14. ↑ Emma Lee (2017-06-15). "Tencent's megahit Honour of King becomes world's top grossing game". technode. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
    15. ↑ Rita Liao (2017-07-03). "World's top grossing mobile game debunks gender stereotype". technode. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
    16. 1 2 Rong, Guo (June 16, 2017). "Tencent's mobile game King of Glory takes the crown". China Daily.
    17. ↑ "Tencent's King of Glory Mobile MOBA Making $435M a MONTH". MMOs.com. 2017-05-23. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
    18. ↑ "Chinese gaming revenues surge on mobile growth". China Daily. October 17, 2017.
    19. ↑ Hester, Blake (September 19, 2017). "Nintendo's Tencent Partnership Could Open Door to Switch In China: WSJ". Glixel. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
    20. ↑ Mochizuki, Takashi; Abkowitz, Alyssa (September 19, 2017). "Nintendo Surges on Prospect of Greater Access to China". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
    21. ↑ "HONOR OF King(ARENA OF VALOR/King OF GLORY) NOMINATED FOR BEST MUSIC IN A CASUAL/SOCIAL GAME AT THE 14TH ANNUAL G.A.N.G. AWARDS".
    22. ↑ "殿堂级音乐揭秘 (Legendary music revealed)".
    23. ↑ "奥斯卡大师打造，长安之声震撼揭秘 (Academy Awards winning mastermind, the Chang'an City soundtrack reveals)" (in zh_cn).
    24. ↑ "Tencent limiting Honour of King play time for Chinese kids". pickle.nine.com.au. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
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