The fact that Tencent is even considering making a mobile version of League of Legends is quite surprising, especially when you consider they already have a similar version called Arena of Valor.
But there’s a good reason why this is happening — the mobile MOBA has actually flopped with western audiences, and the upcoming LoL mobile game is essentially a second chance for Tencent to correct their mistakes from AoV, reported Reuters.
Known as Honor of Kings in China, the mobile MOBA is massive in its home country, with 55 million users a day and a revenue of around US$145M a month. In an effort to expand on the success of HoK globally, Tencent created AoV for international
Tencent’s US subsidiary, Riot Games, found Arena of Valor to be pretty much a mobile knock-off of League. Tencent’s use of LoL pros in marketing the game in Europe also drew Riot’s ire, who then called on Tencent executives for a two-month freeze on all AoV promotional content, hindering its growth.
Tencent’s efforts in substituting the HoK roster based on Chinese mythology with one made up of European folklore and superheroes was another bad assumption — having King Arthur and Batman on your team didn’t quite sit well with audiences despite how cool that sounded.
Gamers in the West also preferred playing on the PC, and the lack of 4G needed a stable connection in some markets meant casual gamers didn’t quite pick up the game. Tencent has since disbanded its marketing teams in North America and Europe and is planning to let its AoV market there fade away.
“In those markets, we are really just letting it live or die on its own course,” said one Tencent source to Reuters.
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