Honor of Kings expands into Europe and North America, announces Invitational S2 host city

Level Infinite, the publisher of mobile MOBA Honor of Kings, has announced the game will be available to play in North America, Europe and Japan in June.

Starting from June 20th, players will be able to get access to the game. Pre-registration will allow players to earn extra in-game rewards when the game launches.

The publisher also announced Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as the host city for the Honor of Kings Invitational S2. Starting on June 29th, teams will compete for a share of its $300,000 (∼£237,099) prize pool. The tournament follows the Invitational S1 which took place in Istanbul, Turkey earlier this year.

The Honor of Kings Invitational S2 will precede the game’s Esports World Cup event in Riyadh which will feature a $3m (~£2.38m) prize pool and the opportunity to qualify for the International Championship taking place later in the year.

Developed by Chinese company Tencent, Honor of Kings is a popular game in China and features high-profile tournaments such as the King Pro League. The game is so popular that the International Championship featured the second-largest prize pool in all of esports in 2023 ($10m).

For some users, the game may already be familiar as Honor of Kings has an international adaptation called Arena of Valor which was launched in 2016. As part of Honor of Kings’s global expansion, the game was recently released on Android and iOS devices in several regions including South Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Earlier this year, Tencent announced its plans to expand Honor of Kings’ global presence, having already announced the intention to be released worldwide this year. Along with the Invitational Series, the company is planning to create localised leagues across various regions with a $15m (~£11.8m) investment to further accelerate the expansion process.