394: Chapter 394 PopCap's New Masterpiece: Honor of Kings

One beat, two beats, three beats... faster and faster, heavier and heavier.

A nameless warrior jumped down from the city wall and charged toward the battlefield. The scene shifted; the muzzle of a defensive tower aimed at them, and a cannonball whistled out.

A warrior raised a shield to block in front, and the cannonball exploded against the shield, sending flames into the sky.

The battle had begun!

The scene switched at a fast pace as a mage unleashed a skill, and flames erupted from the ground.

An assassin leaped from the shadows and plunged a blade into the enemy's back!

An archer drew a bow in the distance, swordsmen fell like raindrops, and a support raised a staff, casting an invisible screen of light over their teammates! The five of them worked in perfect harmony, their team fight flowing as smoothly as water.

In the final scene, the nameless warrior attacked the enemy's high ground, destroyed the crystal, and a burst of golden light exploded across the screen.

Four large characters appeared in the center of the screen: "honor of kings!"

The venue went quiet for a moment, and then a huge cheer erupted!

"Who said Transsion was finished? Didn't they just pull out a MOBA game?"

But the scene on the big screen continued to play, with a list of heroes flashing by one after another—these were all popular heroes carefully selected by Shen Fei.

Xiang Yu, Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Wu Zetian... a full 50 heroes, far more than when honor of kings first came out in the previous life.

Moreover, these hero models were not plagiarized; every single hero had independent modeling and skill animations.

A line of small text was marked in the bottom right corner of the screen: "50 Heroes Available at Launch."

"honor of kings!"

Shen Fei's voice rang out once again amidst the excited barrage comments: "Built over two years by Transsion's subsidiary, PopCap Studio, this is the world's first mobile MOBA game. 5v5 fair combat, three lanes, jungle support, defensive towers, and high-ground crystals—all the MOBA fun you've experienced on a computer has been moved to your mobile phone."

The big screen displayed live footage again, and Shen Fei pulled a transsion s5 directly from his pocket, opened the game, and entered a match in the first server.

The screen was projected onto the big display, and over 40,000 people in the venue watched a complete team fight together.

On screen, 10 heroes met in the river.

The opposing tank initiated the team fight, and the Li Bai operated by Shen Fei cut in from the side, precisely taking out the opposing marksman with a combo of skills. Immediately after, the teammates' crowd-control skills followed up with the mage's ultimate, crashing down overwhelmingly. The five of them coordinated perfectly, executing a team fight with zero losses for five kills.

"Enemy Team Wiped Out!" The sound effect exploded from the stadium's surround sound system, and the adrenaline of the audience below surged, but even more people wanted to experience this game firsthand.

"That match just now was a beta version, and those players were all our employees. Actually, our game isn't that amazing; it's all thanks to everyone's support...

However, what you all get to play will be exactly the same as what I played: a total of 50 heroes, 10 maps, and 3 modes: 5v5, 3v3, and 1v1.

Unlike league of legends, a match of honor of kings only takes about 15 minutes, which is perfect for fragmented time.

At the same time, it is best to use a phone that supports 4G, where latency can be kept under 30 milliseconds. We are also working on adaptations for other phones, but due to hardware limitations, the lowest we can achieve is 40 milliseconds, which might cause a slight lag."

Shen Fei put down his phone and looked at the audience.

"I know many friends have been wanting to ask me when they would be able to play a truly fun competitive game on their phones. Today, the answer is here."

Applause erupted once again, and the barrage comments in the livestream were already covering the screen rapidly.

"Transsion is making a MOBA game???"

"Isn't this ripping off league of legends???"

"I used to think highly of PopCap, whether it was plants vs. zombies or angry birds, they were all brand-new gameplay styles... but these past two years, sigh, it turns out that after being acquired by a domestic manufacturer, they lost their ability to innovate and just know how to plagiarize every single day."

"Can you say anything other than belittling domestic manufacturers? league of legends is a computer game, this is a mobile game, and the hero skills are completely different, so how is it plagiarism? If same gameplay means plagiarism, then you might as well just stop playing games entirely."

"50 heroes at launch, averaging 10 heroes per role; PopCap has been holding back for two years and finally unleashed a nuke..."

"To the person above, shouldn't the biggest surprise be that new heroes will be released every month?"

"I announce that from today on, I am a day-one player of honor of kings."

But soon, a teasing voice appeared in the barrage: "Pony Ma must be watching the livestream too, right? I wonder what his mood is like right now?"

Everyone in the livestream shared a knowing smile; after all, Transsion was a major shareholder of Tencent... a truly major shareholder.

Just then, the producer happened to capture a barrage comment and projected it onto the big screen behind them.

Shen Fei took a look.

"Our producer has sent us a barrage comment. Let's take a look together. This viewer is asking if we are ripping off league of legends?"

Shen Fei turned around and looked back at the audience.

"I want to clarify that honor of kings is a game independently developed by Transsion's subsidiary, PopCap Studio. The development team started the project in 2010, and the core gameplay references classic MOBA game mechanics."

"Just like how angry birds referenced the slingshot mechanic, and fruit ninja referenced the touch-and-swipe mechanic. But all hero designs, skill designs, map designs, and art assets are completely original. It is a brand-new work standing on the shoulders of giants."

Shen Fei paused: "There is no denying that league of legends is a great game. It proved the value of the MOBA category. What honor of kings aims to do is not to copy it, but to bring the fun of MOBA to mobile phones, allowing those who don't have time to sit in front of a computer for an hour to experience the joy of competitive play in just 15 minutes."

Applause rang out again from the audience. Meanwhile, on the other side of Shenzhen, at the Tencent headquarters, Binhai Building.

Pony Ma was indeed exactly as the audience guessed; he was watching the transsion s5 launch event, originally intending to show support... but...

Less than 5 minutes later, Ren Yuting, the head of the gaming business, came to his office, and both of their expressions looked as if they had been doused with a pot of ice water.

Back then, he had looked down on the domestic game operating company that Shen Fei had cobbled together, choosing only to acquire the operating rights for angry birds...

Initially, the revenue made him feel his choice hadn't been wrong; that trashy company sold things so expensively, far inferior to a single IP... and the subsequent domestic operating rights!

As it turned out, PopCap hadn't developed a game for two whole years, but who would have thought they had been holding back for two years only to directly launch honor of kings, this MOBA game. And they were operating it independently!

"Mobile MOBA." Pony Ma repeated these two words, as if chewing on a piece of food that had gone bad.