Amidst massive international media attention and fantastic record achievements, Honor of Kings, one of the popular mobile games in the Chinese region, appears to be gearing up for something significant in 2024 to expand its esports ecosystem. And it seems HoK is setting its sight on Southeast Asia as the next frontier in its bid to conquer the burgeoning mobile gaming market.
A day ago, a screenshot from a social media account showed that key figures from major esports organizations in Indonesia such as Edwin Chia (Bigetron), Andrian Pauline (RRQ), and Delwyn Sukamto (Alter Ego) gathered in a meeting discussing the HoK ecosystem titled “Honor of Kings: Global Game, Global Footprint.” This has sparked speculation that the HoK esports ecosystem will soon kick off there.
Speculation then evolved into concrete action with those key figures now actively scouting for talents within the HoK scenee. Edwin Chia, recently put out an open invitation to HoK players across Southeast Asia, urging them to submit their resumes directly to Bigetron via his X account. This call to action was echoed by Steven “Age” Gunawan, the head of esports at Evos Esports, on Facebook.
The anticipation from Bigetron and Evos could indicate that Tencent, the main publisher of HoK, has been closely monitoring the mobile MOBA market developments in SEA. Given the popularity of its other mobile game titles such as PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile in recent years, HoK is primed to carve out a similar path to triumph in no time.
For mobile gamers, Tencent’s initiation into esports will undoubtedly be an exciting moment to anticipate as the Chinese giant will compete with the highly popular MLBB in SEA. Given Tencent’s vast resources and strong international roadmap, the prospect of top-tier players and content creators within the MLBB community making the switch to HoK is a distinct possibility as opportunities arise.
Interestingly, both of them have been selected as official mobile game titles for the Esports World Cup 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, scheduled for July to August. With the official release schedule of the HoK game uncertain in the SEA region at present, however, it is highly likely that Chinese teams will dominate the event given their longer preparation time.
