The major success story, and competition, of Dot A 2 and League of Legends, sprung off MOBA genre to the heights almost unimaginable decade ago. The success of these games and the genre itself sparked the imagination of the mobile game developers, one of which is Tencent, an owner of Riot Games, creator of Lo L (League of Legends).
The collaboration of Timi Studio and Tencent produced one of the most profitable games of today, Arena of Valor. At first, it was released in Taiwan on October 14th of 2016.
Arena of Valor belong to classic MOBA-type of games, but for mobile phones. Three lanes, minions, towers and the jungle infested with monsters, and heroes designated to certain roles, hallmarks of the most games of this genre. Unlike Dot A 2 or League of Legends, the duration of the average game is much shorter. This is achieved through clever game design and balance around the minion gold/EXP values.
Let’s start by noticing there are few heroes inspired by the characters from the other Tencent game, League of legends. Heroes like Wukong, not only similar in looks, but in design as well. Arena of Valor sure have some original characters, but it is not originality that sets Tencent/Timi Studio apart. It is their ability to dance around different county stigma’s. For example in China it is not allowed to show a bone on the character design, in some other countries it is not allowed to represent Cow (yet in the game there is a bull, Toro) and so on. The characters in China’s market and the rest of the world look completely different. They are still the same in function, for example, the same character that is male Wolf Rider in China, in rest of the world is a female archer. He/She is completely different in everything but functionality.
And while the game is not immune to the prevailing habit of releasing new heroes in the overpowered state, developers are actively tackling all (or should we say most) issues in a relatively fast manner.
The game is free-to-play, with an option to quickly buy characters or skins for real money. But here ‘s a distinction from other mobile games, there are no pay-to-win aspects in this game. Everything of function can be earned in-game.
In order to avoid spending a hard-earned in-game gold on weak characters, a player can always visit some of the sites providing game insights or rankings in the form of Arena of Valor Tier List.
In early 2018 arrived Arena of Valor version for Switch with an improved graphics (new version of Unity), and there are hints the same improved version will arrive onto the mobile platform.
Thou the gaming market is turbulent for most participants, Tencent seems untroubled while they steer their flagship with steady hands, leading the charts in earnings and esports viewership. The future looks bright for this giant and their prized game.
Arena of Valor Review
The major success story, and competition, of Dot A 2 and League of Legends, sprung off MOBA genre to the heights almost unimaginable decade ago. The success of these games and the genre itself sparked the imagination of the mobile game developers, one of which is Tencent, an owner of Riot Games, creator of Lo L (League of Legends).
The collaboration of Timi Studio and Tencent produced one of the most profitable games of today, Arena of Valor. At first, it was released in Taiwan on October 14th of 2016.
Arena of Valor belong to classic MOBA-type of games, but for mobile phones. Three lanes, minions, towers and the jungle infested with monsters, and heroes designated to certain roles, hallmarks of the most games of this genre. Unlike Dot A 2 or League of Legends, the duration of the average game is much shorter. This is achieved through clever game design and balance around the minion gold/EXP values.
Let’s start by noticing there are few heroes inspired by the characters from the other Tencent game, League of legends. Heroes like Wukong, not only similar in looks, but in design as well. Arena of Valor sure have some original characters, but it is not originality that sets Tencent/Timi Studio apart. It is their ability to dance around different county stigma’s. For example in China it is not allowed to show a bone on the character design, in some other countries it is not allowed to represent Cow (yet in the game there is a bull, Toro) and so on. The characters in China’s market and the rest of the world look completely different. They are still the same in function, for example, the same character that is male Wolf Rider in China, in rest of the world is a female archer. He/She is completely different in everything but functionality. And while the game is not immune to the prevailing habit of releasing new heroes in the overpowered state, developers are actively tackling all (or should we say most) issues in a relatively fast manner.
The game is free-to-play, with an option to quickly buy characters or skins for real money. But here ‘s a distinction from other mobile games, there are no pay-to-win aspects in this game. Everything of function can be earned in-game. In order to avoid spending a hard-earned in-game gold on weak characters, a player can always visit some of the sites providing game insights or rankings in the form of Arena of Valor Tier List
.
In early 2018 arrived Arena of Valor version for Switch with an improved graphics (new version of Unity), and there are hints the same improved version will arrive onto the mobile platform. Thou the gaming market is turbulent for most participants, Tencent seems untroubled while they steer their flagship with steady hands, leading the charts in earnings and esports viewership. The future looks bright for this giant and their prized game.