Honor of Kings Growth
Honor of Kings sees significant growth in viewership, with a 30.8% increase in watch hours in 2026, according to Esports Charts
Honor of Kings, a mobile MOBA, had its biggest year yet in 2025, with a significant increase in viewership. The game's publisher is actively investing in marketing and event activity to build a global audience. Artyom Odintsov, co-founder and CEO of Esports Charts, noted that Honor of Kings is still early in its international competitive stage, but remains positive about the title's overall growth.
The game's viewership numbers remain modest compared to other MOBAs, such as League of Legends and DOTA 2. However, Honor of Kings is the only title among the four MOBAs that has seen an increase in viewership since 2024, with a 45% growth in the last two years.
Southeast Asia's mobile monopoly
Southeast Asia is the home of mobile MOBAs, with Indonesia being one of the top markets for Honor of Kings. According to Esports Charts, Indonesia accounts for 34.9% of the title's viewership. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, another mobile MOBA, is more concentrated in Southeast Asia, with 97.8% of its watch hours coming from the region.
| Game | Watch Hours | Top Market |
|---|---|---|
| Honor of Kings | 4.8 million | Indonesia (34.9%) |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 45.3 million | Indonesia (63.5%) |
| League of Legends | 23.7 million | - |
| DOTA 2 | 15.1 million | - |
Odintsov credited the mobile games' commitment to prioritizing constant, localized content over occasional global peaks. Mobile MOBAs have an instant transition from viewer to player, with national leagues running most of the year in the viewer's own language, on the phone they already play on.
An honorable showing
The Esports World Cup saw record numbers for MOBAs, with Mobile Legends: Bang Bang remaining the most viewed title. Honor of Kings saw a 30.8% increase in watch hours, with 4.8 million watch hours in 2026. League of Legends grew by 30.8% as well, but the context behind the growth is different, according to Odintsov.
Four years of world championships
The League of Legends World Championships have seen a significant increase in viewership over the years, with a peak of 753.9 million watch hours in 2025. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang's M7 World Championship matched League's Worlds 2025 almost exactly in total hours watched, but League still pulled a bigger single peak.
| Year | Game | Watch Hours | Peak Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | League of Legends | 141.9 million | 5.1 million |
| 2023 | League of Legends | 146.5 million | 6.4 million |
| 2023 | Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 80.1 million | 4.2 million |
| 2024 | League of Legends | 190.1 million | 7 million |
| 2024 | Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 85.6 million | 4.1 million |
| 2025 | League of Legends | 134.6 million | - |
| 2025 | Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 135.6 million | 5.7 million |
Odintsov noted that the gap between Mobile Legends and Honor of Kings' viewership numbers is massive, but Honor of Kings still has plenty of room to grow. The interesting thing will be if mobile gaming ever takes off in the West, primarily Western Europe and North America.
The untapped audiences
The West doesn't watch Honor of Kings, or even the more popular Mobile Legends, but it is a proof of concept for the potential of mobile viewership. The larger question is whether a game, mobile, PC, or console, in North America could match and rule viewership like Southeast Asia and China. Odintsov assessed that mobile gaming and PC gaming viewership will remain close, especially on the championship, international level. The clearest sign that mobile and PC are converging is at the championship level, with the gap between Worlds and MLBB's M7 World Championship finishing within 0.65% of each other in hours watched. Honor of Kings' 2026 World Cup saw 783,318 viewers, with close to 5 million watch hours, as both the M8 World Championships and League of Legends World Championships have yet to be played.
