Maybe we've all underestimated "Honor of Kings: World".

Today, "Arena of Valor: World" officially launched its public beta on PC and is planned to be available on mobile devices within April. For hundreds of millions of Arena of Valor players, the new IP game they've been waiting for years has finally unveiled its veil.

The official launch of "Arena of Valor: World" on PC

Since its first reveal in 2021, "Arena of Valor: World" has been regarded as an important card played by Tencent in response to the trend of "content is king".

Against that backdrop, "Arena of Valor: World" was once interpreted by some as just another product chasing the trend and cashing in on the IP value - especially since it's based on "Arena of Valor", which has an average daily active user base of over 139 million and consistently ranks at the top of the domestic game charts under Tencent. However, after experiencing the public beta version, many people may realize that this game aims not to answer "how to make a popular open - world game", but rather to "build a brand - new world where players can immerse themselves in exploration and have adventures together" based on the story framework of the Arena of Valor IP.

As a new game in the Arena of Valor IP, "Arena of Valor: World" is bound to be different from the previous layouts of Arena of Valor in multiple fields such as e - sports, animation, and derivatives.

The launch of the Arena of Valor co - operation version

Without any references, it's actually quite difficult for many people to form a clear and objective judgment of "Arena of Valor: World".

If it can't be simply classified as a "content - driven game" or summarized as an "IP derivative", then from what perspective should we view "Arena of Valor: World"?

01

Even without considering the changes in market trends, "Arena of Valor: World" is most likely an indispensable part of the Arena of Valor IP layout.

In essence, an IP is a symbol for players to carry their emotions. It's obvious that in the past few years, Arena of Valor has been focusing on meeting the growing emotional needs of users in various aspects -

In the field of e - sports, Arena of Valor has completed a long - term layout. Last year, the tickets for the KPL annual finals held at the Bird's Nest sold out in just 12 seconds, and the number of on - site spectators broke the Guinness World Record.

The on - site of the 2025 KPL annual finals at the Bird's Nest

In the social field, the official and players have integrated well. They directly bring the popular memes among players to the anniversary stage of "Arena of Valor". Over the years, "Arena of Valor" has always been regarded by young people as an essential social ice - breaker. After playing one or two rounds, it's easy for people to find topics to talk about.

The stage of the 10th anniversary of "Arena of Valor"

In terms of content, the Arena of Valor IP animation team has been releasing various animations since 2017 to present the in - game hero stories and worldviews, such as "Arena of Valor: Chapters of Glory" produced by Tencent Video and "The Way of All Things" co - produced by the core team of "Love, Death & Robots", Blur Studio. In addition, the official has also made many plans in areas such as film and television variety shows, IP derivatives, virtual idols, and emotional companionship.

The poster of "The Way of All Things"

Similarly, as a new IP game, "Arena of Valor: World" really hopes to meet the users' emotions that overflow from the Arena of Valor IP. These emotions may not have been fully addressed in the previous IP layouts, such as the pursuit of a more immersive story experience and the shared adventure with friends in the virtual world. For IP users, whether "Arena of Valor: World" can continue and upgrade the emotional demands accumulated over the years and provide a broader spiritual sustenance is the core evaluation standard for this game.

From this perspective, it's hard to fit "Arena of Valor: World" into an existing game category mold.

A game category is often like a "standard template" in the game market. With this template, developers can better plan the development focus, ensure the project progress, and create a qualified or even excellent product. Players can also quickly find games that suit their preferences. In today's highly streamlined game industry, a category often means a standard answer and maximum efficiency.

However, "Arena of Valor: World" obviously gave up this shortcut. Its design logic is not "matching a leading product", but rather a reverse "emotional engineering" - first identify the emotional gaps of IP users, and then fill them with content.

A more intuitive example is that the large - scale world content in "Arena of Valor: World" is presented based on the Arena of Valor worldview. The product not only vividly restores the in - game settings such as Jixia Academy and Fengyun Wilderness, but the project team also spent a lot of energy and cost on creating things that are more like "easter eggs".

The actual gameplay screenshot of "Arena of Valor: World"

As early as the launch trailer of the game, the official highlighted the details of Dongfang Yao and Xishi's rooms.

The screenshot of the "Arena of Valor: World" trailer

In addition, the planning team has made several versions of designs around Luban the Great. Besides the well - known "Luban Seven" to players, the No. 1, No. 2, No. 5, No. 6, and No. 8 were also created in "Arena of Valor: World", fulfilling the dreams of Luban's fans.

IP - derived comics

The images of Luban's "siblings" of different models

This experience is both familiar and fresh to IP players. Luban Seven is a highly - used hero in "Arena of Valor", but players could only catch a glimpse of his "siblings" in some operation activities and IP comics in the past.

For example, the "Gui Xu Dream Performance" event mentioned in the game's opening main story and the "Star Team" formed by Dongfang Yao and others were previously known to players through the "Arena of Valor" series of skins and comics. As early as the previous tests of "Arena of Valor: World", players have been enthusiastically digging out the series of easter eggs and content connections in the game.

In order to fully restore the geographical features in the game's worldview and ensure a natural transition between regions, "Arena of Valor: World" also released the overall map of the world continent.

The map of the King's Continent in "Arena of Valor: World"

In the current version, the newly - opened Jixia area has shown a solid content density - from the Jixia Academy with both order and spirituality to the vast and fertile Fengyun Wilderness, the scenes with different features not only carry unique exploration and narratives but also lay the groundwork for the future expansion of this "Arena of Valor world".

During the actual experience, the art design with the consistent oriental cultural characteristics of the Arena of Valor IP is also likely to make old players feel familiar and amazed.

The actual gameplay screenshot of "Arena of Valor: World"

It's worth mentioning that after the game's launch, "Arena of Valor" also launched a co - operation with "Arena of Valor: World", and rich content was added in terms of in - game atmosphere and experience interaction. For example, the "Scarlet Beast" in "Arena of Valor: World" appears in the position of the original tyrant in "Arena of Valor" and can release a series of skills from the world.

The actual gameplay screenshot of "Arena of Valor"

This not only shows the in - depth connection and mutual support between "Arena of Valor" and "Arena of Valor: World" at the IP level but also indicates that there may be more diverse interactions between the two in terms of content in the future.

02

The overall gameplay design of the game also follows the logic of "serving emotional needs".

At the beginning, the developers of "Arena of Valor: World" may not have had a clear idea. The development team subconsciously referred to mainstream market products and designed a rather complex cultivation system around the gameplay, such as weapons relying on random drops and inscriptions with random attributes.

From a market perspective, such content can effectively extend the life cycle of long - term operation games. Just the design of random attributes is enough to make players ignore the dull periods of the game in pursuit of perfect attributes. Even now, random elements still appear stably in various mainstream products.

However, in the final launched version, these complex designs have been highly simplified.

Now, the inscription system in "Arena of Valor: World" not only has simple fixed attributes but also allows resonance among different heroes. After unlocking and upgrading, it can basically achieve "once - and - for - all" results.

The inscription system of "Arena of Valor: World"

In terms of equipment, the game has introduced a "wish mechanism" to ensure that the target sets will be dropped preferentially in dungeons, eliminating the need for repeated grinding as during the testing period. The exclusive weapons associated with resonance heroes can be upgraded with fixed materials, and players can choose their own upgrade paths, which is basically equivalent to having a set of targeted cultivation paths for each resonance hero.

The glory equipment system of "Arena of Valor: World"

This set of simplified logic is not only about "reducing the grind