Tencent announced today that it has opened North American registration for Arena of Valor, its multiplayer online battle arena that is coming out for Switch, iOS, and Android.
Arena of Valor has been a huge hit in China, which is also the country that Tencent calls home. Tencent is the biggest gaming company in the world with stakes in Epic and Riot. Arena of Valor has over 160 million registered users. Expanding to North America will open the MOBA up to a new audience.
MOBAs are some of the most popular games in the world, but most U.S. gamers still think of PC top dogs like League of Legends and Dota 2 when they hear the term. Here, Vainglory is one the best-known mobile MOBAs. But it focuses on 3-vs.-3 fights, while Arean of Valor has the same 5-vs.-5 setup as League of Legends and Dota 2. Vainglory is working on a 5-vs.-5 mode.
Arena of Valor will also reach a new, untouched audience on the Switch. MOBAs are still rare for home consoles, but the Switch’s ability to also work as a portable device with a touchscreen could make it more ideal for the genre than controller-only platforms like PlayStation 4.