Honor of Kings MMORPG green lit for development and what to expect

Tencent’s Timi Studios, the developer of Honor of Kings, plans to give the title a fresh twist of MMORPG genre.

For starters, Honor of Kings is a mobile MOBA game that’s almost exclusively available in China and reportedly has 100 million daily active users. With such a massive and dedicated fanbase, developing an Honor of Kings MMORPG doesn’t sound like a terrible business idea after all.

Honor of Kings: World in the making

Essentially, Honor of Kings is building a franchise in the gaming industry. After all, the game already has 105 beloved heroes, so the MMORPG when done right will certainly rake in a larger audience. This isn’t the first time Tencent has ventured into something so outrageous, like when they combined Honor of Kings and Arena of Valor to become their next-big Esports title for year 2022.

The move certainly gives the game a multiverse vibe because existing Honor of Kings players will be itching to play the new take on their favorite MOBA. Expect all the MMORPG goodness, such as sociable interactions with peers, PvP mode (Player versus Player), and of course, eye-bogging aesthetics that might just make players stay in the game longer.

So, what’s the buzz surrounding Honor of Kings anyway? In hindsight, it’s just another game expanding to a different genre to cater to diehard fans of MMORPG.

Chinese Developers’ obsession with MMORPG

The trending genres in the gaming community have evolved over the years. MMORPG in particular was a hit back when World of Warcraft debuted. Nevertheless, it would soon be overtaken by competitive MOBA genres, such as League of Legends and DotA 2. Then, there’s battle royale themed games making it into the latest gaming craze.

While opinions vary regarding which game genre remains the best, Chinese developers are keen on bringing MMORPG into the spotlight. However, it’s not just nostalgia that Chinese developers are hoping to deliver.

Instead, it’s MMORPG with elements of virtual reality (VR). Notably, Chinese developer, miHoYo is planning on creating a virtual world, similar to the anime, Sword Art Online franchise, by 2030. It all begins with their popular mobile RPG, Genshin Impact, which currently has 21 million registered users.

While a virtual world or server that can cater for a billion users seems unrealistic and plausibly just a dream. It is still a vision from the enthusiastic developer, who plans on achieving it within a decade.

Augmented and Virtual Reality to rule the Internet of Things

Jokes aside, topics about Augmented Reality (AR) and VR technology aren’t out of a science fiction movie anymore. Earlier last week, social media giant, Facebook renamed to Meta, which is short for the metaverse.

There are already AR applications in the testing that would soon reach consumers. Hence, the whole innovation around building an RPG-based virtual world isn’t too crazy after all. We already have ‘virtual currencies’ or cryptocurrency available for use too, which can certainly fit into the realm of virtual world spending. As major players pave the way into creating a utopia of digitalized life, VR could certainly be on the roadmap for Honor of Kings: World in the foreseeable future.

Concerns of excessive gaming in MMORPG

MMORPG does have its caveats, notably the social aspect of it because it’s notoriously known for causing gaming addiction. After all, games in the similar genre can often be a slippery slope for users to overspend hours or even days to play.

Sure, other genres are responsible for gaming addiction among its players too. But, in terms of hours spent, MMORPG still takes the cake. This, of course, contradicts China’s restriction on its citizens spending too much time playing video games.

Conclusively, excessive gaming still causes quite the debacle among concerned people. On one hand, it’s the responsibility of oneself to have self-control and not fall for their own gaming addiction. Whereas, the other belief is that the government and responsible parties, such as the game developers themselves, should care for their user base’s wellbeing.