Gaming
esports
How Arena of Valor looks to shape mobile esports
We speak with the team behind China’s most popular mobile game on their esports plans to conquer the West.
Arena of Valor remains one of the most popular games around the world, gathering over 80 million active players every day – especially in its native China, where it’s known by its original title, Honor of Kings. Here in the West, however, where the mobile MOBA market remains starkly divided from the Leagues and Dotas of the world, mega-developers Tencent are still working to raise awareness of their marquee game through its budding competitive scene.
They’re even going so far as to sponsor an upcoming Arena of Valor World Cup tournament in July in Los Angeles for a massive prize pool of $550,000. At E3 earlier this month, Tencent held the playoffs for the Valor Series on the show-floor at the ESL Arena, with spectators watching around the world on Twitch. And though the competition was fierce – and not entirely free of surprise – Allegiance ended up advancing to the Grand Finals for NA, extending their winning streak, while Team Noob continued their dominance of Europe to advance themselves forward.
With E3 done and dusted and the AoV teams raring to go for their next big tournament, we caught up with Ramon Hermann, director of esports for Tencent America, to hear his thoughts on where he sees the mobile MOBA going, and just how big the game’s esports potential going further into 2018 and beyond.
For Hermann, the Valor Series playoffs was a rollicking start to what he views as the promising competitive future of Valor here in the West. “We just launched the game in December here in North America, and we really wanted to very quickly build out a competitive ecosystem for the game,” he says. “So, we launched the first series back in April, and that’s what culminated today, and we’re moving onto that World Cup in July.” That quick turnaround did come with its own set of difficulties, however.
“Because we launched the season so soon after the game came out, we wanted to find a format that really speaks to the grassroots element that we’re still at. So we went for a hybrid format where the lowest two teams might be relegated so other teams could move into the league, because it’s so fluid right now. That’s been successful for us, to jumpstart that space.”
While there are a wealth of mobile competitors waiting in the wings for their shot at the still-emerging market, Hermann says that he believes that Valor isn’t so much competing with them here in the West – rather, the company is fighting to prove that mobile gaming can be just as frantic and tactical as the traditional mouse-and-keyboard affairs that currently dominate the space. “People sometimes don’t take mobile games as seriously as they should, because they’re on a phone. Asia is a little more advanced on this front, if you ask me. The hardware on mobile has finally caught up to the software, and that’s our strength. Arena of Valor is a core game, and it’s for people who’re looking for the hidden-depth gaming experience that they’re used to from PC or console, and you can have a similarly compelling experience in terms of the skill ceiling.”
Though Hermann undoubtedly believes in the product, he’s the first to admit that the game still has many hurdles to overcome over the next few months before it can truly spread its wings. For example, since the game first came out in China in 2015, there’s a substantial skill gap between the regions that the company has to help them overcome by putting Western players through “boot camps” that allow Eastern players to share their techniques and close the chasm between them.
“The regions are at different stages in the game’s lifecycle, so some of the Asian countries had a head-start. They’re more professional, and they’re more organized. They’re the favorites going into the World Cup, but the boot camp in Thailand is an attempt to get a sense of ‘the meta,’ to get them to play stronger opponents. But, the truth is, unless you manage a perfect simultaneous launch globally, that’s going to be a part of growing pains that every major game faces.”
One could certainly argue that Arena of Valor is already a shocking success, with thousands, if not millions of players in the West already. Still, for Tencent and Hermann, it’s not enough for the game to merely sell well – they say that the esports element is “baked into” the game, and a thriving competitive scene is key to its continued existence.
“From a strategic perspective, competitive play is a way to showcase what’s possible in the game,” says Hermann. “We want people to aspire to top-level play. We want people to know what top-level play looks like, what tier 2 play looks like, what Little League looks like. With mobile gaming, we believe that the accessibility factor will really accelerate the acceptance of mobile gaming, and we’re excited to see how fast it can grow. Our first season has been really promising, in terms of big organizations expressing interest.
“Success for me is definitely having a competitive identity for the game, and figuring out how mobile esports can work in the West. That’s what attracted me to this world of helping Tencent lead the charge. I would argue for PC and console, we’ve written the playbook to some degree. Even the way we broadcast the tournament is based on PC gaming, but I know there’s probably a better way for mobile gaming. So, we’re in the early stages of figuring that out for mobile, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
