Honor of Kings 2026 Anniversary Celebration: Becoming the stories that accompany young people along their growth paths

On the evening of October 25, the Honor of Kings 2026 Anniversary Co-Creation Night was held at the Gymnasium of Shenzhen Sports Center. With the theme "1, I Know Exactly What You Mean", the gala spotlighted canyon memes, music, dance, esports passion and player culture all under the same spotlight.

Meanwhile, new content previews for three Honor of Kings IP products, namely Honor of Kings, Honor of Kings: World and Honor of Kings: All Stars Chess, were released in a concentrated manner, including the new hero Jiang Jiang and the new chess piece Wu Feng, alongside announcements of IP-related plans for animations, music, character interactions and more.

On the same day, the three products also took the top three spots on the iOS free game chart, marking an unprecedented scene.

From October 24 to 25, the Honor of Kings 2026 Anniversary Carnival was jointly held with the KPL Wonder Day for the first time, and moved into a large indoor venue for the first time. According to official statistics, the venue covers an area of over 40,000 square meters, attracting about 50,000 players from all over the country to Shenzhen within two days. This integrated online and offline celebration also demonstrates the dominance and appeal of the Honor of Kings IP among the younger generation.

Anniversary Celebration Site

As a long-standing national IP with a huge user base, the influence of Honor of Kings is extending from gaming experiences to a wider range of social scenarios.

Over the past year, Honor of Kings has continued to delve into fields including traditional cultural cooperation, public welfare practices and urban cultural tourism. In terms of traditional cultural communication, it has continuously explored the integration of traditional cultural elements with game art and character narratives, expanding the communication channels for traditional culture through digital content forms familiar to young people.

This year, the game also launched cooperation projects centering on the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, integrating traditional architectural culture into game-related content and launching the anniversary skin "Dunshan · The Tower That Stands for a Millennium", driving players to further understand historical culture and traditional craftsmanship.

The Integration of Honor of Kings and Traditional Culture Continues to Deepen

At the Co-Creation Night, Honor of Kings also joined hands with Jiangsu Grand Theatre to bring the excerpt "Garden Tour" from the national dance drama *A Dream of Red Mansions* to the stage of the Co-Creation Night, presenting the classic traditional literature in the form of classical dance; 43 Chinese-style music performers jointly performed "As Bright as Stars", unfolding a magnificent oriental epic picture scroll with melodious songs; singer Liu Yuning sang "Travel Ballad", the theme song of Honor of Kings' Year of the Horse limited skin, taking the Silk Road as the core imagery and integrating landscapes of thousands of miles and the sentiment of family letters into the stage presentation.

Anniversary Celebration Site

In addition, the Honor of Kings 2026 Anniversary Carnival also brought the intangible cultural heritage lion dance experience to the site. Multiple KPL players learned to make the lion blink, shake its head and bow to the beat of drums under the guidance of intangible cultural heritage inheritors, getting a close experience of the Guangdong lion dance culture.

In terms of public welfare practices, Honor of Kings carried out agricultural assistance practices with the limited-time crop "Ping'an Fruit" in the in-game "Honor of Kings Farm" as the entry point, extending the planting and harvesting experience in the game to the promotion of real agricultural products. Since the launch of this gameplay, players have planted crops 600 million times and stolen crops 380 million times on average every day.

In terms of urban cultural tourism, Honor of Kings integrates the game IP into urban public spaces through themed activities, light shows, dedicated subway trains and offline interactions, providing new opportunities for young people to participate in urban activities and experience urban culture.

Honor of Kings 2026 City Party - Shanghai Station

Among them, the Honor of Kings 2026 City Party - Shanghai Station connected core players with a wider range of citizens and tourists through urban roaming. During the event, the total passenger flow of the Xuhui Xinyao · Halo Live commercial district reached 280,000 person-times, with the average daily passenger flow and user consumption increased significantly by 50% and 25% respectively compared with ordinary weekends, and both the single-day passenger flow peak and turnover peak hit new highs within the year.

From traditional cultural communication to agricultural assistance practices, and then to urban cultural tourism, a series of explorations carried out by Honor of Kings during the anniversary celebration demonstrate the diverse possibilities of digital IP connecting cultural resources, industrial scenarios and public life. Relying on the user base and cultural identity accumulated through the game, digital IP is transforming online attention into offline participation. When games are no longer just entertainment products, but can continue to play a role in more real scenarios, their social value has gained more tangible footholds.

As the most representative national game in China, Honor of Kings has not slowed down after its 10th anniversary: the core gameplay is continuously expanded, and casual content, hero system and diverse experiences are continuously updated; two new IP products, Honor of Kings: World and Honor of Kings: All Stars Chess, have been launched one after another, ranking among the top in their respective categories and maintaining stable operation.

And the player culture of Honor of Kings continues to grow beyond the game. After long-term co-creation, the unique "nong" (Honor of Kings player) culture of Honor of Kings has formed a distinct identity. Players create and express spontaneously, and the official carefully accepts and continuously responds, so that a game meme can spread from the in-game match to the entire internet, a hero can become a footnote to real-life stories, and a game interest can also connect traditional culture, public welfare practices and urban life.

Honor of Kings is constantly integrating into life and drawing nutrients from real life. This continuously expanding cultural penetration and real-world influence is exactly the embodiment of its evergreen vitality.

This article was first published on "36Kr Games".