Kuaishou Gaming (KSG) won the Honor of Kings World Cup at Esports World Cup 2026 (KWC at EWC26), taking home the winner title and $600,000 prize by a close margin. This edition of the tournament also marked the first time Honor of Kings and Arena of Valor (the western-adapted version of HoK) teams competed on an international stage at the Esports World Cup.
KSG defeated defending champion AG.AL taking the series to its full distance with seven games resulting in 4:3 in the Grand Final; KSG player JuHao was awarded the Finals MVP following the match. In the third-place match, Geekay Esports defeated ROC Esports 3:0 in a decisive best-of-five series.
KWC At EWC26 Concludes, Fall Season Begins
With the conclusion of the EWC tournament, regional leagues will resume their Fall season across Indonesia (IKL), Malaysia (MKL), the Philippines (PKL), Brazil (CHOKBR), and through the Honor of Kings Major League (KML). The Honor of Kings Women’s Series 4 (KWS4) will run from September to October alongside the Fall Leagues, with over 36 teams competing before an offline final, followed by World Championship in this December.
Concluding the competitive season is the 2026 Honor of Kings International Championship (KIC2026), scheduled for December, bringing together 16 teams in a year-end global competition; the game will also appear as an official medal event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games (27-28 September), and as a contested title at the upcoming inaugural Esports Nations Cup (HOK at ENC26), set for 24-29 November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with 24 participating teams.
For grassroots-level competition, Honor of Kings Open Series Split 6 ran from July to August as a pathway to the Regional Pro Leagues; the HOK Campus Series (KCS) will run from August to October across Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, with over 30,000 participants expected. The HOK Campus Series Future (KCS Future) is scheduled from July to November across more than 16 secondary schools in Indonesia, targeting over 2,400 participants, with IDR 60 million of total prize pool up for grabs.
Pokdepinion: The inclusion of Honor of Kings, among other gaming titles, as a medal event at the Asian Games 2026 is an indication that international sporting bodies are now treating esports as a competitive category.
