Paul Delos Santos is a reporter based in Las Vegas. He covers the Vegas Golden Knights for NHL.com and also covers esports and general Las Vegas sports for The Sporting Tribune. He’s a gamer who never has time to play them, so he naturally opted to write and talk about them instead.
Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Image Credit: Esports Foundation Every region has a game that dominates its gaming ecosystem.
Korea has League of Legends. Pakistan has Tekken. Japan has Street Fighter. Southeast Asia has Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Europe has Counter-Strike 2.
Meanwhile, China has a strong footprint in all games, but there is one game that they are miles ahead of the next region – Honor of Kings .
Since the game’s inception, China has been one of the top regions playing the game.
It makes sense. The game uses Chinese historical/mythological characters and was developed by Tencent, a company based in China. It was originally launched in China, of course.
This head start allowed the country to develop its own following for the game. It now features a community of players, which has become the heart of the Honor of Kings esports scene.
“The game is super fun,” Kuaishou’s Zhang “LiuLang” Heng said to Esports Insider. “Maybe we started playing it when we were younger. You can queue up as a group of five, hang out with friends offline, and just have fun together.”
So, while China is the global leader in Honor of Kings, is any other country claiming the No. 2 spot in the world, and how wide is the gap between the regions?
To answer this question, the first thing to consider is how deep China’s talent runs.
The Honor of Kings esports ecosystem is a maze to understand for most in North America, South America, Western Europe and Oceania – collectively referred to as the West.
But to boil it down to the simplest form, there are three major Honor of Kings events.
The first is the King Pro League, which is China’s top domestic event. The KPL Grand Finals begin Oct. 1-Nov. 14.
Teams outside of China compete at the Honor of Kings International Championship. This event features no Chinese teams. The date for this tournament has yet to be announced, but is expected later in the fall.
The final event is the Honor of Kings World Cup, which is held at the Esports World Cup every year. It is the only place where teams from all countries gather in one country to compete against each other.
“China has a very strong competitive ecosystem, with many high-level teams and players pushing each other every day,” Bigetron by Vitality’s Muhammad “JenMyth” Rifaldi said. “Other regions need more opportunities to develop players and compete at that level consistently.”
But even while China has its own circuit to itself, players are starting to experience challenges coming from other regions around the world.
“I think players from other regions are improving very fast,” LiuLang said. “Playing through this tournament, it feels like opponents from every region are already quite strong – equivalent to very capable teams in our domestic league. Moving forward, they just need to keep working hard. I feel the gap isn’t very wi…