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TiMi Studio Group

TiMi Studio Group (Chinese: 天美工作室群; pinyin: Tiānměi Gōngzuò Shìqún), a subsidiary of Tencent Games, is a video game development studio group headquartered in Shenzhen, China and offices in Singapore, Montréal, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chengdu, and Shanghai. TiMi generated an estimated revenue of $10 billion USD in 2020. Reportedly, TiMi is the largest video game operator and developer in the world by revenue.[1] Founded in 2008 as Jade Studio, TiMi comprises several development divisions with different areas of expertise and develops games in different genres for PC, mobile, and Nintendo Switch, including Honor of Kings, Arena of Valor, Call of Duty: Mobile, Speed Drifters, and Pokémon Unite.

TiMi Studio Group
FormerlyTiMi Studios
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedDecember 3, 2008; 16 years ago (2008-12-03)
Headquarters
Shenzhen
,
China
Number of locations
7 (2021)
Areas served
Worldwide
Key people
Colin Yao
(Vice President of Tencent & President of TiMi Studio Group)
Vincent Gao
(Head of Global Game Development)
ProductsNotable Games
ParentTencent Games
DivisionsAudio
  • TiMi Audio Lab (Chinese: 天美音频; pinyin: Tiānměi Yīnpín)
Development
Jade Studio (Chinese: 琳琅天上工作室; pinyin: Línláng Tiānshàng Gōngzuòshì)
  • TiMi-J1
  • TiMi-J2
  • TiMi-J3
  • TiMi-J4
  • TiMi-J5
  • TiMi-J6

Tianmeiyiyou Studio (Chinese: 天美艺游工作室; pinyin: Tiānměi Yìyóu Gōngzuòshì)
  • TiMi-T1

Wolong Studio (Chinese: 卧龙工作室; pinyin: Wòlóng Gōngzuòshì)
  • TiMi-L1
  • TiMi-L2

Montréal & Singapore
  • TiMi-F1 & TiMi-G1
Websitewww.timistudios.com

History

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2008–2013: Origins as Jade Studio

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TiMi began in 2008 as Jade Studio[a] in Shenzhen, China. The studio debuted into the Chinese PC gaming market with QQ Speed[b] (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[c] in 2010 and first-person shooter (FPS) Assault Fire in 2012. In 2013, the studio released their final PC game which is a 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 Studio Group and Chinese success

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In 2014, Jade Studio merged with Wolong Studio from Chengdu and Tianmeiyiyou Studio from Shanghai to form TiMi Studio Group.[3] Following the merge, in 2015, the group's development division TiMi-L1 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 division introduced the King Pro League (KPL); an official competitive esport for Honor of Kings[d]. The KPL marked the division' and studio group' first entry into esports, providing a $12 million prize pool.[5]

2016–2020: Worldwide growth, Arena of Valor, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Pokémon UNITE

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Following the success of Honor of Kings, in 2016, the group's development division TiMi-J6 released Arena of Valor[e]. The MOBA game was launched for mobile and Nintendo Switch in over 50 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and South America, expanding the group'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][8][9][10]

On 19 March 2019, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California, Activision announced that they were partnering with TiMi Studio Group to develop their upcoming title, Call of Duty: Mobile.[11] The game was developed by the TiMi-J3 division and released worldwide on 1 October 2019. As of 4 October 2019, the game has surpassed 35 million downloads and over $2 million in revenue.[12] In December 2019, the game received an award for Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards.[13]

In July 2019, it was announced that the studio group and The Pokémon Company are developing a new Pokémon game, which was revealed on 24 June 2020, called Pokémon UNITE, a Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game for mobile and Nintendo Switch.[14][15][16][17]

2020–present: Team Kaiju, Code: J, Records

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In May 2020, the studio group announced ex-343 Industries and Ubisoft developer Scott Warner as Studio Head in North America.[18] Scott Warner will lead TiMi's Team Kaiju (stylized as TEAM KAIJU), which was revealed on 15 October 2021. The subsidiary is working on one unnamed first-person-shooter (FPS) game for the PC and console market.[19][20]

On 27 June 2020, the studio group and SNK announced a new unnamed mobile game, Code: J, for the classic arcade franchise Metal Slug.[21]

In November 2020, the studio group announced that Honor of Kings set a record of 100 million average daily active users worldwide.[22]

in July 2021, the group established a new division located in Canada, Montréal. The division's classification is TiMi-F1 and the development focus is an AAA open-world game.[23][24]

In May 2021, the studio group announced a strategic partnership with Xbox Game Studios.[25][26]

On August 2021, a controversy occurred due to a language barrier on Twitter. The account which wanted to post "everyone's rights are equally important" rather shared "what about hetro rights", implying that LGBTQI2+ people having no discrimination, thus creating a negative view off TiMi.[27] Bob Holtzman, General Communications Manager, shared on the 13th of August 2021 an open later on the group's website apologising about the interactions, and clarifying that internal review have begun to learn from the situation.[28] Later in the year, September 2021, it was reported, that TiMi does not allow LGBTQI2+-related terms in Pokémon UNITE.[29]

In June 2022, TiMi L1 Studio, a development division of the group, announced a strategic partnership with Level Infinite on publishing Honor of Kings world-wide, where Level Infinite will take over the publishing, eSports, but TiMi the operations and community. The five versus five video game in the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre will adapt on areas where TiMi J6 Studio's Arena of Valor have a shared eSports with in Honor of Kings World Championship (KCC), under TiMi eSports, but did not reach the expected player base.[30][31][32]

In August 2022, Nicolas 'Sparth' Bouvier announced that he had joined Team Kaiju as the Senior Art Director. Previously Sparth had been with the Halo franchise for 14 years, serving as the Art Director for most of that tenure.

In December 2023, TiMi Studio Group shut down Team Kaiju, including discontinuing their unannounced game. The team members were moved to other development divisions, and some left the group.[33]

Honor of Kings was launched worldwide on June 20th, 2024, following pre-releases in Brazil and Turkey as well as countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.[34][35]

In November 2024, it was reported that eSports General Manager of TiMi L1 Studio, Zhang Yijia, was forced to resign from his position due to corruption affairs.[36]

List of games

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Year Title Genre(s) Platform(s) Development division(s)
2007 QQ Three Kingdoms Arcade Microsoft Windows L1
2008 QQ Speed (GKART / Speed Drifters) Racing J1
2010 The Legend of Dragon Massively multiplayer online role-playing J2
2011 The King of Dazzling Fighters / King of Combat[37] Fighting J5
2012 Assault Fire[38] First-person shooter J3
2013 Age of Gunslingers[39] Third-person shooter J4
We Match[40] Casual Android, iOS T1 & J4
Parkour Everyday[41]
2014 We Fight[42] L1
We Drift[43] J1
Let's Catch Demons Together! / Let's Hunt Monsters[44]
Eliminator Alliance[45] T1
Fantasy Fighters[46] Fighting J5
2015 Crossfire Legends[47] First-person shooter J3
Honor of Kings[48] Multiplayer online battle arena L1
2016 Arena of Valor[49][50][51] Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch J6
2017 King of Chaos[52] Role-playing Android, iOS T1
QQ Speed: Mobile / Garena Speed Drifters[53][54] Racing J1
2018 The Legend of Dragon: Mobile[55] Massively multiplayer online role-playing J2
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds: Army Attack[56] Battle royale J3
The King of Fighters: Destiny[57] Fighting
Contra Returns[58][59] Run and gun J1
2019 Battle Through The Heavens[60] Massively multiplayer online role-playing T1
Saint Seiya: Awakening[61][62] Turn-based strategy role-playing L1
Call of Duty: Mobile[63][64][65] Shooter J3
2021 Pokémon Unite Multiplayer online battle arena, real-time strategy Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch J6
2022 Age of Empires: Return to Empire[66] real-time strategy Android, iOS
2023 Yuan Meng Star Battle-royal, racing, party Android, iOS
2024 Age of Empires Mobile real-time strategy Android, iOS T1
Need for Speed Mobile / Need for Speed: Assemble Racing Android, iOS
Delta Force First Person Shooter Android, iOS, Switch, and PC J3
TBA Metal Slug Code: J Run and gun Android, iOS
TBA Honor of Kings: World Action-adventure TBA L2
TBA Monster Hunter Outlanders TBD Mobile devices and phones[67] J2 & G1

Notes

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  1. ^ Chinese: 琳琅天上工作室
  2. ^ Chinese: QQ飞车端游
  3. ^ Chinese: 御龙在天
  4. ^ Chinese: 王者荣耀
  5. ^ Chinese: 傳說對決

References

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