LoL owner is trying MOBA game on consoles

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The League of Legends, or LoL, is currently one of the most played eSports games in the world.

And China's Internet giant Tencent, parent of the game's maker Riot Games, has also found success by putting a similar game onto mobile phones.

The mobile game, Arena of Valor (or Honor of Kings for Chinese players), is now further expanding its reach to gaming consoles, as Japanese consumer electronics giant Nintendo announced on Thursday that the game will be ported to its Switch platform.

Screenshot from Nintendo

It's the first of its genre, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), releasing on the console.

The mobile version has more than 200 million registered users in China alone, in addition to the 100 million players who enjoy LoL every month worldwide.

The game features five-on-five battles with blades and magic. The goal of a match is to destroy the opponents' base structure on the far side of the arena. The game also generates minions, or lesser battle units to make it like a real war.

It also has a mechanism to force players into team battles that are fast and thrilling, which lot of players see as the game's core fun.

Gameplay of the mobile version, with virtual keys for touchscreen controls /Screenshot from Google Play‍

The PC and mobile version of the game is free to play, but with few characters available. Players can spend more time on the game, or pay a little fee to unlock tons of other characters.

The business model of the Switch version was not mentioned by Nintendo.

The MOBA genre emerged as a major play-style around 2009, as Defense of the Ancients, or DotA, got well balanced by its player-developers and became both competitive and fun to play with.

Nintendo Switch is a mixture of desktop and mobile gaming console. The machine hardware is more like a tablet than a console, so it's easier to port mobile games to the Switch than other competitors.

Mixed reception

The news seems to be shocking to a lot of hardcore gamers in China, as Nintendo is widely considered as a game maker specialized in casual style instead of actions and competition.

"The MOBA genre does not go with Nintendo's philosophy. And Tencent game is not good enough to be on this platform," a player who claimed to have written a complaint letter asking Nintendo to reconsider the game said on Weibo.

Actual gameplay of the Arena of Valor on Nintendo Switch /Screenshot from Nintendo

Some Chinese players describe the local version of the mobile game as "game of pupils," criticizing that the game is designed to rip-off children.

The mobile version was also criticized by some Chinese state media. Multiple articles were written about the game's misrepresentation of ancient Chinese heroes.

But the international version is not completely the same as the local one, which features characters more known to westerners, such as superheroes in US comics.

Some LoL lovers see the port a positive move.

"I've been waiting for a MOBA on the Switch since the beginning of Switch," a LoL player nicknamed "Comeback_of_Shinpachi_kun" said on his Weibo.

"It's definitely a great idea, since you don't have to tolerate the on-screen virtual buttons any more," he added.

Nintendo and the Chinese gamers

Nintendo Switch does not sell in Chinese mainland, although its competitors have been in the region for years.

Chinese is not available on the Nintendo Switch console. /Screenshot from Nintendo Switch‍

Fans have to buy the machine in Hong Kong, or other countries that allow shipping to mainland.

What's worse, only a few games on the platform have Chinese language available. Some of the most praised games, including flagship games The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2, cannot be enjoyed by people who only understand Chinese.

"The only thing that stops me buying the Switch is the language gap," a player nicknamed "realEvilCloud" complained on the gaming community website g-cores.com.

But still, Arena of Valor's landing on Nintendo Switch drew great attention in China, as the game is owned by an influential Chinese Internet company.

It could be a great chance for Nintendo to officially launch the console in the country.