Tencent giving up on Arena of Valor in the West

Tencent has reportedly given up on Arena of Valor in the west. The game will still run but the company will no longer spend any effort or marketing dollars in Europe and the United States.

According to Reuters, a source in Tencent has said that the company will be “letting it live or die on its own course” when it comes to the two Western markets. The marketing teams in those regions were supposedly disbanded due to this decision.

Update: According to National Business Daily, Tencent has denied that the disbanding of the marketing teams for Arena of Valor in Europe and North America.

Arena of Valor has not been doing well in the West, as far as MOBA titles go. On average, there are only about 100,000 and 150,000 active users daily in Europe and respectively. The source within cited tensions with US-based Riot Games (which is now a Tencent Games subsidiary) and failure to understand the Western market.

Not everything is bad news for the west, however. Just last week, it was announced that Tencent and Riot Games is developing a mobile version of League of Legends. This will be able to replace Arena of Valor in the west, which may explain Tencent’s decision in regards to the game.

Arena of Valor first made its western debut in North America in 2017, while a Nintendo Switch version arrived in September 2018. If you want to try the game, you can download it here.

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