- Honor of Kings has made major waves in esports today as team Nova are crowned champs
- The team took home the gold at the Honor of Kings Invitational season three
- Meanwhile, longstanding MOBA champs OG have announced the formation of their own HoK team
If there’s any genre that could lay claim to the crown of King of Esports it would be the MOBA. Ever since its humble origins as a mod for Warcraft, this mixture of real-time strategy and hack ‘n slash shooter has had innumerable iterations. But while the current reigning champion may be League of Legends, this top MOBA now has considerable competition in Tencent’s Honor of Kings.
Look no further than the most recent news coming out today where we have not one, but two esports headlines to share with you. For one, Nova Esports have been crowned champions of the Honor of Kings Invitational season three. Meanwhile, OG esports (major MOBA competitors in their own right) have announced they are forming a team to compete in future HoK esports tournaments.
It’s a major win both for the competitors themselves and for Honor of Kings. One of the major hurdles to growing a truly world-beating esports scene is attracting top talent, and Tencent’s MOBA has done so with seemingly contemptuous ease.
Above and beyond
But then it’s not hard to imagine why this is the case. Honor of Kings has had a dedicated fanbase rivalling that of League of Legends (and eclipsing many others) within its homeland of China alone. And esports is merely the cherry on the cake to give these dedicated fans a new way to enjoy their favourite MOBA.
The question now is whether or not Honor of Kings can rival League of Legends in pop-culture impact. While it did secure a spot in the recent Amazon anthology Secret Level, Honor of Kings is yet to make a narrative mark on the level of something like Arcane.
Could that change? Who knows, but what’s clear is that at least in esports Honor of Kings is now the place where the very best are competing.
