China’s Tencent sees opportunities in female mobile gamers from Honor of Kings

BEIJING – Chinese gaming giant Tencent is betting on a rise in the number of female players worldwide for its mobile game Honor of Kings, which was rolled out to the US and other countries in June.

The game has already been a hit in China, drawing a record 33,000 fans to a stadium in Beijing on Saturday to watch two teams battle it out for the $3 million top prize.

Many in the crowd were young women, indicating how interest in mobile games has expanded from the stereotypical male player in the age of console and PC gaming.

The game was launched in China in November 2015 and the game’s appeal lies in its easy learning curve and relatively short sessions of around 15 minutes. Anyone with a smartphone can play for free in real time on the go.

“Honor of Kings became an important way for me to interact with people,” Tianyun Gao said, according to CNBC’s translation of her spoken Mandarin. She started playing the game in 2017 as a sophomore in college and became a professional commentator for the game’s competitions a year later.

Gao, an English major from Shanghai, has moderated Honor of Kings competitions in two languages, including an international event held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, in August. She said her hope is for esports to become as mainstream as traditional sports, noting that one of her inspirations is a Chinese football commentator.

Tencent has ramped up its global expansion plans for Honor of Kings this year, with subsidiary Level Infinite announcing a $15 million investment in the game’s tournament development worldwide in February.

An international version of the game has been available since 2016 under various names such as Arena of Valor, but the latest global push for Honor of Kings began in 2022. The game only reached the Middle East earlier this year and only launched in the major markets of North America, Europe and Japan in June.

Less than a month later, the game was downloaded more than 50 million times outside of China, according to the company.

The growth in gaming among women largely stems from their preference for playing on their smartphones, without having to invest in consoles and other technology.

“Nearly half of female players only play on mobile platforms, so we have a huge addressable audience,” said Jackie Huang, head of Honor of Kings’ global esports division within Tencent Games’ TiMi L1 Studio. “Women make up a significant part of our player base, but we want to see this continue to grow.”

He said that 45% of gamers worldwide are female, and that the gender composition of Honor of Kings users is “relatively balanced.” We strive to provide users, regardless of how they identify themselves, with [a] high-quality gaming experience,” said Huang.

Gaming is Tencent’s largest revenue generator, with international games accounting for approximately 28% of total gaming activity in the third quarter.

The company also owns Riot Games, a developer whose PC-based League of Legends has become one of the hottest names in global esports with its own annual competition. Honor of Kings, which claims 100 million players per day, uses a similar format with two teams of five players each.

Such multiplayer games are the second most popular category for female gamers after puzzles, said Xiaofeng Zeng, China-based vice president of gaming research firm Niko Partners. His analysis showed that 95% of women prefer mobile games.

If Honor of Kings can maintain the top spot in China and reach that position abroad, Tencent can generate half of its revenue from international markets, Zeng said. He said the US, India, Malaysia and Indonesia are the game’s top overseas markets in terms of revenue.

And in the key market of Southeast Asia, Zeng said female players are growing two to three times faster than male gamers due to the low base. Last month, a new global championship Honor of Kings was held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, with Malaysian team Black Shrew Esports winning the first prize of $300,000.

For now, however popular Honor of Kings may be among women, the competitions remain male-dominated. The two teams that competed in Beijing on Saturday consisted exclusively of male players.

Huang pointed out that this year’s world championship featured a female player from France’s Team Vitality, which is also managed and coached by women.

He attributed Honor of King’s popularity among women to the game’s playable characters, who are also female. Many of the figures, each with different powers, are based on Chinese historical or mythological figures.

In 2021, the organizers of the Honor of Kings competition in China also launched a tournament for female players. This year’s women’s finals will take place in December, with a price of approximately $41,000 for the winning team.

“The pandemic has greatly accelerated women’s entry into gaming and we are seeing more and more engagement from female gamers,” said Chirag Ambwani, SVP of gaming and entertainment at SensorTower, which focuses on mobile games.

Reasons include specialized and easily accessible content, he said, adding that participation in games was growing overall.

As for Honor of Kings’ global expansion, Ambwani said research from SensorTower showed “healthy growth,” with average revenue exceeding $5 per user in the US and Canada.