| Arena of Valor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | TiMi Studio Group |
| Publisher | Level Infinite |
| Producers | Ray Ning (Executive Producer) |
| Engine | Unity[1] |
| Platforms | |
| Release | Android, iOS Nintendo Switch
|
| Genre | Multiplayer online battle arena |
| Mode | Multiplayer |
Arena of Valor (Chinese:傳說對決;pinyin:Chuánshuō Duìjué,Thai:เรียล์มออฟเวเลอร์ (อาร์โอวี),lit. 'Realm of Valor (RoV)',Vietnamese:Liên Quân Mobile), formerlyStrike of Kings,[2] is an international adaptation ofHonor of Kings (Chinese:王者荣耀;pinyin:Wángzhě Róngyào),[a] amultiplayer online battle arena developed byTiMi Studio Group and published byLevel Infinite forAndroid,iOS andNintendo Switch for markets outsidemainland China. As of September 2018, the game has grossed over$140 million outside China.[3]Arena of Valor was one of the esports titles featured at the2018 Asian Games,2019 Southeast Asian Games,2021 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, and2021 SEA Games as part of the competitive sport.[4][5][6]Arena of Valor was published in other regions byGarena,DeNA, Actoz SG, and TiMi Studio Group.
Arena of Valor is amultiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed for mobile. The overall gameplay ofArena of Valor highly resemblesLeague of Legends, a MOBA game on PC developed and published byRiot Games, which is also a subsidiary of Tencent and a sister company to TiMi.[7]
Players control characters known as heroes, each possessing a unique set of abilities. Heroes begin the game at a low level and can earn gold and experience (XP) through various means: killing non-player creatures such as minions or monsters, vanquishing other players, destroying structures, passively over time, and via special items that can be purchased in the shop. Earning experience unlocks and enhances abilities, making the hero more powerful. Items bought in the shop do not carry over to subsequent matches, ensuring that all players start each match on equal footing.
Matches give players rewards, such as gold, which can then be used to buy a variety of heroes or arcana.[8] In addition to this, players can play a 'Ranked' match type, which allows them to be matched with players who are at their skill level and be assessed through in-game 'ranks'.[9] Stars are earned for a victory and lost when the player loses.
There are various game modes inArena of Valor, with "5v5" most commonly referred to as Grand Battle or Ranked Match, played on the Antaris Battlefield and being the most popular. Players compete in these matches which on average last for around 12 – 18 minutes. Players aim to destroy the enemy's turrets on the map and secure objectives such as killing Abyssal Dragon and Dark Slayer, with the victory condition being to destroy the enemy's core.[10]
Black City Arena is a 1v1 game mode with only one lane, two brushes at the left and right side of the horizontal battlefield, an HP pot, one tower, and one core for blue and red.[11] Shadow Duel is a 3v3 game mode on Flatland Battlefield, using a much smaller map.
Abyssal Clash is a 5v5 game mode where players are given randomly selected heroes. Players may choose to re-roll once and receive a different hero. The game map, Abyss Canyon, only has one lane, with two turrets and a core base connected at either end of the lane. There are certain restrictions which do not appear in the default 5v5 mode: Items may only be purchased before leaving the base or upon death and hero healing at the team base is disabled. There are health regeneration runes that appear next to each turret, which provide heroes with a small regeneration effect.[12]
Hook Wars is one of the arcade game modes. The game map, Treasure Bay, is made up of two large connected vessels. Although this game mode is also 5v5, there are no minions, turrets, or bases in this mode. Each player is able to use a Hook as a special ability, which can grab an enemy on the opposite boat or from long distances. Players aim to capture the Control Zone, located at the center of the map, and hold the zone for a certain duration (until the counter reaches 100%). The capture rate increases with the number of players standing within the zone.[13]
Football Fever is a 3v3, arcade game mode. Death Match is a 2v2v2v2v2 arcade game mode on a game map known as Death Realm. Gladiator's Summit is a 5v5, arcade game mode. Mayhem Mode is a 10v10, arcade game mode. Duo-Race is a co-op racing mode.
There are 123 heroes inArena of Valor as of June 1, 2025.Arena of Valor divides the heroes into numerous categories that each play different roles. The most notable difference is the type of damage a hero deals - some heroes deal physical damage, which can be countered by the armor stat, whilst other heroes deal mainly magic damage, which is countered by the magic resistance stat. Some heroes deal both types of damage, and some deal 'true' damage, which cannot be countered by either armor or magic resistance. All heroes are classified as one of six categories, with some heroes overlapping multiple categories.
Players can purchase items, which make a large impact on the hero stats and playstyle. An example of this is Zephys, a dual warrior/assassin class. He has a passive ability that increases damage reduction against incoming damage based on a proportion of health lost. If only offensive items are bought, he will deal a lot of damage but will have a low amount of health and defense, which impacts survivability. If Zephys purchases a mix of offensive and defensive items, he can take damage for the team while still dealing a noticeable amount of damage. If Zephys buys only defensive items, he can boost his damage reduction passive to its maximum potential, being literally almost impossible to die in most circumstances like a Tank class character, but will deal drastically lower amounts of damage.This kind of playstyle can be applied to all heroes, allowing tanks to act as warriors, mages to act as supports, and vice versa.
AfterTencent fully acquiredRiot Games in 2015,[14] Tencent asked them to make a mobile version ofLeague of Legends, asmultiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games were very rare on mobile at the time, withVainglory by Super Evil Megacorp (which was formed by ex-Riot Games employees) being the only notable title.[15] Tencent wanted to seize the opportunity to dominate the mobile market because there were not any strong competitors aside fromVainglory.[16] However, Riot Games declined due to mobile not commonly being seen as the platform for competitive games, and claimed that the gameplay ofLeague of Legends could not be replicated on smartphones. Be that as it may, Tencent was still determined to launch a MOBA game on mobile. After receiving the refusal from Riot Games, Lightspeed & Quantum Studios (which would later developPUBG Mobile under license fromKrafton) andTiMi Studios (both of which are Tencent's internal video game development studios) raced to develop a MOBA game that fit the bill, resulting an internal competition.[17]
Lightspeed & Quantum'sWe MOBA and TiMi'sLeague of Kings (rough translation from 王者联盟Wángzhě Liánméng) were launched on the same day, on August 18, 2015. A month later,We MOBA was already the third most downloaded mobile game on Apple's iOS worldwide, according to app analytics firm App Annie, whileLeague of Kings was nowhere nearWe MOBA.League of Kings was then taken down for an overhaul, and was relaunched in October 2015. TiMi Studios usedLeague of Legends as a base model to overhaulLeague of Kings, resulting in both games having a lot of similarities. TiMi Studios also implemented a 5v5 game mode intoLeague of Kings due to the game previously having poor reception with the 3v3 concept. This time,League of Kings successfully overtookWe MOBA and won the internal competition. Tencent relished and invested additional resources intoLeague of Kings to ensure its success.[18][19]
Nevertheless, Riot Games deemed that the design of characters and abilities inLeague of Kings were "blatantly ripping off the intellectual property ofLeague of Legends" after they discovered how the game was produced, and reportedly brought these concerns to Tencent.[20] Tencent responded that they would change its own game enough to sell as a standalone product with no relation toLeague of Legends. Despite this,League of Kings had already gained massive popularity in China at this point due to the game being advertised as "mobile version ofLeague of Legends" through social media andword-of-mouth marketing. Tencent felt that it was too late to make huge changes to the game, so they renamedLeague of Kings (王者联盟;Wángzhě Liánméng) toHonor of Kings (王者荣耀;Wángzhě Róngyào) on November 26, 2015, and it only went through necessary changes. The international release ofHonor of Kings was canceled, and the game would have a western twin for markets outsidemainland China which is rebranded and featured different contents, leading to the creation ofArena of Valor, which also served as a response to Riot Games's complaints of "potential intellectual property infringement".[21]
Arena of Valor was developed by TiMi Studio Group with the same engine and user interface design asHonor of Kings and published byLevel Infinite. A subsidiary at Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group, headed under the Tencent Games division.Arena of Valor originally was namedStrike of Kings, and was intended to be the identical name toHonor of Kings, but the publishing team thought the name might not be suitable to appeal to the Western audience. Moreover, the difference in content featured in the game made the publishing team decide that a better name is required.[2] Still,Arena of Valor has several alternative names when released in different countries, such asRealm of Valor in Thailand,[22]Liên Quân in Vietnam,[23]Penta Storm in South Korea,[24] andLegendary Showdown inTaiwan andJapan.[25][26]
Garena joined the marketing team as they helped to westernize the atmosphere of the game. The in-game characters have been swapped from characters inspired byChinese folklore andChinese mythology, to characters inspired byEuropean folklore and severalmythologies from other nations, blending a variety of elements includingLovecraftian horror,steampunk,high fantasy, andsword and sorcery to appeal audiences outsideChina.
The appearance of in-game characters mostly recycled and revamped designs of characters fromHeroes of Newerth, a MOBA game that Garena had acquired fromS2 Games.[27]Arena of Valor also included several characters such as Butterfly, Violet, and Mina fromAge of Gunslingers, athird-person shooter game that previously was also developed by a division of TiMi Studio Group.[28] Additionally,Arena of Valor has multiple collaborations with other franchises, havingcrossovers withDC Universe,[29][30][31]Wiro Sableng,[32][33][34]Contra,[35]KFC,[36]Sword Art Online,[37][38]Ultraman,[39]Bleach,[40]One-Punch Man,[41]Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba,[42]Sailor Moon[43] andHunter × Hunter.[44]
TiMi intended to feature characters from theMarvel Universe during the prototype stage ofStrike of Kings (before the rebranding toArena of Valor and collaboration withDC Comics), with theclosed beta test of the game under the name ofMarvel Super Heroes. The initial game featured some characters from TiMi's intellectual property crossover with Marvel's characters.[45] However,Marvel Entertainment later took back their license, forcing TiMi to stop the development and Tencent Games to shut down the game as they lost the rights to release the game.[46] Subsequently, TiMi Studio Group had to redesign the game, creating the current appearance ofArena of Valor. TiMi then approached DC Comics to include their characters as a replacement to Marvel's characters, while Marvel went a separate way, and collaborated with other video game developer companies to develop their own MOBA, such asMarvel End Time Arena bySmilegate,[47] andMarvel Super War byNetEase.[48]
The soundtrack forArena of Valor was composed byTiMi Audio Lab in cooperation with different music composers each year, such as Jeff Broadbent in late 2016,Hans Zimmer andLorne Balfe in 2017,[49][50] Matthew Carl Earl and Obadiah Brown-Beach in 2018,[51]Russell Brower, Paul Lipson, andTom Salta in 2019,[52] Yang Lee and Michal Cielecki in 2020,[53] all creating a different atmosphere compared to the original score with Chinese music instruments inHonor of Kings.Arena of Valor also features The Veda language, aconstructedfictional language along with itspolypersonal descendants, such as Afata, Gandal (the "impure language" of humans), and G'vunna (Zudǝllǝ g'Vunnǝ, the "language from the abyss" of the Lokheim) for different characters from different factions. These languages were created byDavid J. Peterson (also well known for creating theDothraki andValyrian languages inGame of Thrones) to make the game more interesting.[54][55]
Arena of Valor has a wide variety of publishers for different regions.Arena of Valor was first launched in Taiwan on October 12, 2016, by Garena, following a two-week closed beta testing period.[56] On November 21, 2016, Garena launchedArena of Valor in Vietnam and become one of the most successful mobile games in this country. On December 26, 2016, Garena launchedArena of Valor in Thailand. On October 17, 2017, Garena launchedArena of Valor in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, where a majority of the gaming community plays mobile games. Garena decided to combine these three countries in one server. InSouth Korea, the game was published byNetmarble on April 26, 2017.[57] The game was released in European markets by Level Infinite on August 10, 2017,[58] and was released in North America and Latin America on December 19, 2017.[59] On June 28, 2018, Level Infinite implemented "Asia server" unannounced. This server included Australia, New Zealand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei.[60] In Japan,DeNA cooperated with TiMi to launchArena of Valor on November 30, 2018.[61]
Nintendo announced a deal with Tencent Games to bringArena of Valor to theNintendo Switch for international markets, as well as forming a partnership to ship Nintendo Switch consoles into China. The game was announced to be released for the Nintendo Switch during the September 2017Nintendo Direct presentation.[62] A closed beta became available for the platform on June 28, 2018, and participants received an in-game skin for one of the characters.[63]
The game was officially launched on the platform on September 28, 2018.[64][65] Speaking toEngadget, Tencent Games revealed the Nintendo Switch port of the game is enhanced and optimized for the platform, taking advantage of the console's processing power and hardware features to implement various changes to the game, such as improved graphics and animations, better lighting, smoother lines, and additional minute details like butterflies. Additionally, several adjustments were made to the game to be playable on a bigger screen with traditional controls, and stats for characters have been reconfigured. Because of these changes, cross-play between theNintendo Switch and mobile versions of the game is not possible.[66]
TiMi Studios once again faced internal competition. Morefun Studios (which is also another of Tencent's video game development studio) developed and released a mobile MOBA namedWar Song on January 22, 2018, in an attempt to compete withArena of Valor.[67] However,War Song did not last long in the end. Instead, the assets of the defunct MOBA were recycled forChess Rush, anauto battler game, which was released on July 4, 2019.[68]Arena of Valor was reported to have caused a gradually straining business relationship between Riot Games and Tencent, and the relationship between the two firms became further strained when Tencent used notableLeague of Legends players to promoteArena of Valor and its esports tournaments. Riot Games's complaints initiated a two-month marketing freeze forArena of Valor and demanded that Riot Games be given the option to review all marketing plans, including a veto for the use of select celebrity gamers.[69] Nonetheless, Riot Games implied that their relationship with Tencent is still strong, and the conflict between them and their games is only "a bump in the road".[21] In July 2017, Riot Games filed a lawsuit againstMoonton, the developer of the rival gameMobile Legends: Bang Bang, for copyright infringement, citing similarities betweenMobile Legends andLeague of Legends.[70][71] The case was initially dismissed in theCentral District Court of California in the United States on account offorum non conveniens. Tencent, as Riot's parent company, then filed a new, separate lawsuit on behalf of Riot Games, directly targeting Moonton's CEO, Watson Xu Zhenhua (as he had previously worked in Tencent as one of Tencent's senior employee) inShanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court, for violating a law regardingNon-Compete Agreements,[72] which ruled in Tencent's favor in July 2018, awarding Tencent a settlement of$2.9 million (RMB19.4 million).[73][74][75][76] Riot Games eventually acknowledged the potential of the mobile market for the MOBA genre, and agreed to develop a mobile title forLeague of Legends.[77] Tencent then temporarily pulled marketing plans forArena of Valor in Europe and North America in 2019, clearing room for Riot Games's announcement a few months later.[78] Riot Games announced their own mobile MOBA game,League of Legends: Wild Rift on October 16, 2019, which is the 10th anniversary ofLeague of Legends.[79] In addition, the succession of MOBA genre on mobile inspired the creation ofPokémon UNITE, aPokémon spin-off game, developed by TiMi Studio as well in a further partnership with Nintendo andThe Pokémon Company. The game was announced in aPokémon Presents on June 24, 2020.[80][81]
TiMi partnered withShengqi Games to re-distribute the Arena of Valor franchise in the Indian market, where Arena of Valor has beensuspended from operating earlier in Q4 of 2020 due to unsubstantiatedprivacy concerns claims through theIndian government. The franchise is branded Clash of Titans, with adjusted terms such as Titans, unlike the original franchises Heroterminology.[82] The mobile app ofArena of Valor was banned in India (along with other Chinese apps) on September 2, 2020, by the government, the move came amid the2020 China–India skirmish.[83][84]
TiMi Studio Group decided to no longer extend the license rights of theArena of Valor franchise toNetmarble &Kakao. Netmarble announced that they will terminate the service on July 29, 2022; after five years of game as a service (GaaS). The termination causes Korea to have no representation in eSports in 2022. The license was not extended due to a failure of playerretention inSouth Korea.[85][86]
Arena of Valor tournaments have been held in numerous regions, with each region having their own local leagues such as Garena Challenger Series Pro League (GCS) inTaiwan,[87] Realm of Valor Pro League (RPL) in Thailand,[88] Arena of Glory – Đấu trường danh vọng (AOG) inVietnam,[89] Arena of Valor Star League (ASL) inIndonesia,[90] Arena of Valor: Valor Cup (AVC) inMalaysia,Singapore andPhilippines,[91] Arena of Valor: Valor Series (AVS) inEurope,North America, andLatin America,[92] and Arena of Valor Japan League (AJL) inJapan.[93]
Arena of Valor also has two annual world championship tournaments; Arena of Valor International Championship (AIC) and Arena of Valor World Cup (AWC). AIC is a tournament where teams from across the world participate to earn profit and glory for their own esports organisation, while AWC is a tournament where teams participate under the banner of their national flag to represent their own country.
The first AIC was held in South Korea from November 23 to 26, 2017. The event attracted more than 36,000,000 online viewers, breaking mobile game records worldwide and has since become the leading standard of mobile esports. The game occupying the top positions of mobile game rankings in Asia for months has also received the honor of Google Play's Best of 2017 Game award in Europe.[94] The second AIC tournament was held inThailand from November 23 to December 16, 2018. The tournament increased the number of competing teams to 16, with teams competing for the title and a proportion of the prize pool worth $600,000 (£460,000).[95] The third AIC tournament was also held in Thailand from November 5 to 24, 2019. It featured an additional all-new 1v1 competition, where one player represented each team and the winner walked away with $5,000.[96]
The first Arena of Valor World Cup (AWC) tournament was held in Los Angeles, United States, from July 17 to 28, 2018.[97] A total prize pool of $500,000 made AWC one of the largest mobile esports tournaments in gaming history. A total of nine regions competed for the grand prize, which includes Taiwan – Hong Kong – Macau, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia – Singapore – Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, North America, Latin America and Europe. Additionally, the tournament host selected three Wildcard teams to participate in AWC.[citation needed] The second AWC tournament was held in Da Nang, Vietnam, from June 27 to July 14, 2019, with the same total prize pool of $500,000.[98][99] The second AWC also marks Japan's first participation in theArena of Valor international tournament since the game introduced their Japanese server on November 30, 2018.[100]
The Arena of Valor World Cup 2020 was canceled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic,[101][102] and was replaced by the one-off Arena of Valor Premier League 2020 (APL 2020).[103]
On August 28, 2021, Level Infinite and TiMi eSports announced the merge of the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup, the world championship of AoV's Chinese counterpartHonor of Kings, with the Arena of Valor World Cup. As a result, the prize pool will be increased dramatically from $500,000 to $10,000,000 from the 2022 edition. The AIC 2021 prize pool has been increased from $500,000 to $1,000,000 and will be increased from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 starting AIC 2022.[104]
Arena of Valor was part of the esports demonstration event at theAsian Games 2018 held in Indonesia. Eight countries were able to participate after qualifying from their respective regional qualification, with Indonesia automatically qualifying as host. Unlike other electronic sports events, there is no qualification forCentral andWest Asia.[105]
Arena of Valor was among the game titles included as a medal event at the2019 Southeast Asian Games.[106]
Arena of Valor (Vietnamese:Liên Quân) was among the game titles included as a medal event at the2021 Southeast Asian Games, along with two similar gamesLeague of Legends (Vietnamese:Liên Minh Huyền Thoại) andLeague of Legends: Wild Rift (Vietnamese:Liên Minh Huyền Thoại: Tốc Chiến).[107]
Arena of Valor is among the eight esports titles determined as medal events for the Asian Games 2022.Tencent Esports and TiMi eSports shared a publication on September 5, 2021, which confirmed the first time usage of the merged version ofHonor of Kings withArena of Valor.[108]
Arena of Valor won the award for "Best Music in a Casual/Social Game" at the 15th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Best Original Instrumental".[109] It was also nominated for "Original Score – Video Game" at the 2017Hollywood Music in Media Awards,[110] for "Original Dramatic Score, New IP" at the NAVGTR Awards,[111] for "Best Competitive Game" at the 2018Golden Joystick Awards,[112][113] and for "Fan Favorite Mobile Game" at theGamers' Choice Awards.[114]Arena of Valor: Flip the World won the award for "Song/Score - Mobile Video Game" at the9th Hollywood Music in Media Awards,[115] while the game itself andHonor of Kings 2.0 were nominated for the same category at the 10th Hollywood Music in Media Awards.[116] The game was also nominated for "Best Mobile Sport" at thePocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards,[117] whileHonor of Kings 2.0 won the award for "Best Music in a Casual Game" at the 18th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Best Sound Design in a Casual/Social Game".[118]
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