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Reports indicate Tencent to bring League of Legends to mobile platforms

Mob(a)ile.

Reports indicate Tencent to bring League of Legends to mobile platforms
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There are a lot of large stories which, for many people, go untold. Stories like the origin of Arena of Valor, an adaption of Honour of Kings targeting Western audiences. Honour of Kings itself was a creation of another purpose; it is reportedly born out of an inability between Tencent and Riot games to agree on a deal regarding a mobile version of League of Legends.

Well, times have changed in the years that have passed. Tencent are now the parent company to Riot, and a new report from Reuters is inferring that development on a mobile take on the ever-popular MOBA game has begun.

What could a mobile version of League of Legends mean for the gaming industry? Well, the Chinese market, which Tencent dominates (even so much as operating a viable competitor to PC giant Steam) is much more geared toward mobile gaming, not least due to the heavy restrictions which were in place against home consoles for many years. Without the tug between consoles and PCs the mobile marketplace thrived as a portable alternative to the anchored PC experience.

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A 2018 report from Jeff Sue over on Gamesindustry.biz, highlights the potential between League of Legends and Honour of Kings. It states that in 2017 Honor of Kings earned just under two billion dollars, with 200 million active mobile players, while League of Legends reported 111 million active players on PC. Some extremely impressive numbers, and both from properties owned by the same company on different platforms. Interestingly, as recent Nike Partners research denotes (as summarised by Venturebeat), both titles straddle the top played games for their respective formats in the region.

Word has it that the League of Legends mobile port has been in work for almost a year now. We'll make sure to keep you updated if we hear of any more developments.

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Dann Sullivan
Dann Sullivan
A job in retail resulted in a sidestep into games writing back in 2011. Since then Dann has run or operated several indie game focused websites. They're currently the Editor-in-Chief of Pocket Gamer Brands, and are determined to help the site celebrate the latest and greatest games coming to mobile.