TiMi Studios

TiMi Studios (Chinese: 天美工作室群; pinyin: Tiānměi Gōngzuò Shìqún), a subsidiary of Tencent Games, is a video game development studio headquartered in Shenzhen, China and offices in Los Angeles, Chengdu, and Shanghai. Founded in 2008 as Jade Studio, TiMi comprises several studios with different areas of expertise and develops games in different genres for PC, mobile, and Nintendo Switch, including Honor of Kings, Arena of Valor, and Pokémon Unite.

TiMi Studios
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo game industry
Founded2008
Headquarters
Shenzhen
,
China
Number of locations
4 (2019)
Areas served
Worldwide, Los Angeles, Chengdu, Shanghai
Key people
Colin Yao
(Vice President of Tencent & President of TiMi Studios)
ProductsNotable Games
ParentTencent[1]

History

2008–2013: Origins as Jade Studio

TiMi Studios began in 2008 as Jade Studio in Shenzhen, China. The studio debuted into the Chinese PC gaming market with QQ Speed (known as GKART and Speed Drifters in Western markets), China's most successful racing game. As of July 2, 2019, Speed Drifters has 700 million registered users, with 200 million registered as mobile players.[2] Following Speed Drifters, the studio released its own massive multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG) titled The Legend of Dragon in 2010 and first-person shooter (FPS) Assault Fire in 2012. In 2013, the studio released their final PC game which is third-person shooter (TPS) titled Age of Gunslingers before they made their debut into mobile gaming with the release of WeChat exclusive games such as We Match and We Run.

2014–2016: Formation of TiMi Studios and Chinese success

In 2014, Jade Studio merged with Wolong Studio from Chengdu and Tianmeiyiyou Studio from Shanghai to form TiMi Studios.[3] Following the merge, in 2015, the studio debuted into mobile gaming with the massive Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, Honor of Kings. As of July 2019, Honor of Kings is the most profitable mobile game globally of the first half of 2019, earning more than $728 million.[4]

In 2016, the studio introduced the King Pro League (KPL); an official competitive esport for Honor of Kings. The KPL marked the Studios’ first entry into esports, providing a $12 million prize pool.[5]

2016–present: Worldwide growth, Arena of Valor, Call of Duty: Mobile, and future projects

Following the success of Honor of Kings, in 2016, the studio released Arena of Valor. The MOBA game was launched for mobile and Nintendo Switch in over 50 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and South America, expanding the studio's reach worldwide, with more than 13 million monthly active users reported in May 2019.[6] The game became a part of the Esports demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games and 2019 Southeast Asian Games.[7]

On March 18, 2019, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California, Activision announced that they are partnering with TiMi Studios to develop their upcoming title, Call of Duty: Mobile.[8] The game was released worldwide on October 1, 2019. As of October 4, 2019, the game has surpassed 35 million downloads and over $2 million in revenue.[9] In December 2019, the game received an award for Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards.[10]

In July 2019, it was announced that the studio and The Pokémon Company are developing a new Pokémon game, which was revealed on June 24, 2020 called Pokémon Unite, a Real-time strategy (RTS) game for mobile and Nintendo Switch.[11][12][13][14]

In May 2020, the studio announced ex-343 Industries and Ubisoft developer Scott Warner as Studio Director in North America.[15]

On June 27, 2020, the studio and SNK announced a new unnamed mobile game, Code: J, for the classic arcade franchise Metal Slug.[16]

In November 2020, the studio announced that Honor of Kings set a record of 100 million average daily active users worldwide.[17]

List of games
Year Title Genre(s) Platform(s)
2007 QQ Three Kingdoms Arcade Microsoft Windows
2008 QQ Speed (GKART / Speed Drifters) Racing
2010 The Legend of Dragon Massively multiplayer online role-playing
2011 The King of Dazzling Fighters / King of Combat [18] Fighting
2012 Assault Fire [19] First-person shooter
2013 Age of Gunslingers [20] Third-person shooter
We Match [21] Casual Android, iOS
We Run [22]
2014 We Fight [23]
We Drift [24]
Let's Catch Demons Together! [25]
Eliminator Alliance [26]
Fantasy Fighters [27] Fighting
2015 Crossfire Legends [28] First-person shooter
Honor of Kings [29] Multiplayer online battle arena
2016 Arena of Valor [30][31][32] Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch
2017 King of Chaos [33] Role-playing Android, iOS
QQ Speed: Mobile / Garena Speed Drifters [34][35] Racing
2018 The Legend of Dragon: Mobile [36] Massively multiplayer online role-playing
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds: Army Attack [37] Battle royale
The King of Fighters: Destiny [38] Fighting
Contra: Return [39][40] Run and gun
2019 Battle Through The Heavens [41] Massively multiplayer online role-playing
Saint Seiya: Awakening [42][43] Turn-based strategy role-playing
Call of Duty: Mobile [44][45][46] Shooter
TBA Pokémon Unite Multiplayer online battle arena, real-time strategy Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch
Metal Slug Code: J Run and gun Android, iOS

References
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