Tencent And Time Warner Enter Licensing Deal For DC Comics Characters

Tencent sure is taking over the video game world, isn't it? Not only does it have a huge grip on the mobile gaming market worldwide, but it's also got Riot Games and its big PC hit League of Legends. But now it's made an even bigger move – one that involves characters from the DC Comics universe.

Today, it has secured licensed characters from that particular series through a deal with Time Warner, and will feature them in its popular mobile MOBA game Strike of Kings/Honor of Kings.

This deal will be beneficial to both parties, as familiar faces will no doubt give both of Tencent's mobile releases a boost; at the same time, Time Warner will see more exposure for familiar characters in the mobile market, a market it's been slowly trying to get into.

Thus far, some characters have already appeared in the Strike of Kings games, including The Joker, Superman and Batman, who's pictured in the promo art below.

Strike of Kings is currently in the midst of a "soft launch", doing quite well in the overseas market with 2 billion yuan (or $291 million) generated in gross sales. Time Warner will get a pretty decent chunk of that through the licensing deal, while the game draws in more players as a whole.

The game is headed for a commercial launch, but Tencent is looking to change the name of it before it comes out, even surveying a few fans in the process. There's a possibility that the final name could now tie in with something DC related now that characters from that universe are thrown in, but Tencent hasn't confirmed that just yet.

Considering how popular Honor of Kings has done in China (it's essentially a mobile version of the hit game League of Legends), Strike of Kings – or whatever it's finally called – should have no trouble dominating the market, especially with the power of DC Comics characters.

We'll let you know once a release is finalized, and once a roster of which DC Comics characters will be in the game once that's ready to go as well. One thing's for sure – Batman is going to kick a whole lot of ass.