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Monetization
April 4, 2026 at 09:38 PM
Fix gacha scope: heroes are unlocked via story progression, not gacha. Gacha is for weapons only.
Honor of Kings: World is a free-to-play game with no initial purchase required. It is available on PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as on iOS and Android mobile devices. The monetization model combines a gacha system for obtaining weapons with cosmetic purchases for visual customization. Lead Designer Simen Lv stated during the GDC 2025 showcase that the team's guiding principle was to avoid pay-to-win design, ensuring that spending money provides convenience and cosmetic variety rather than competitive advantages.
The primary monetization mechanic is a gacha (randomized draw) system. Players spend premium currency to pull from rotating banners that feature specific weapons. The system uses a pity mechanic that guarantees high-rarity items after a set number of unsuccessful pulls, preventing worst-case spending scenarios from becoming extreme.
Data from Chinese beta tests revealed the following pull rates and pity thresholds. These rates may be subject to adjustment before or after launch.
Category | Base Rate | Pity Threshold |
|---|---|---|
5-star character | 0.6% | 90 pulls |
5-star weapon | 0.6% | 80 pulls |
4-star item | 5.1% | 10 pulls (soft pity) |
The 0.6% base rate for 5-star items means that on average, a player will receive a 5-star item roughly once every 167 pulls without pity. However, the pity system ensures that the maximum number of pulls required is capped. The weapon banner (featured) pity is set at 90 pulls, meaning a player is guaranteed a 5-star weapon within 90 pulls if they have not received one earlier. The weapon banner pity is slightly lower at 80 pulls.
For 4-star items, the 5.1% base rate is considerably more generous. Most players encounter 4-star items regularly during normal pulling activity. A soft pity mechanic increases the 4-star drop rate as the player approaches the 10-pull mark without receiving one.
The game features a premium currency that can be purchased with real money. This currency is used primarily for gacha pulls and select cosmetic purchases. The exchange rate and pricing are consistent across PC, iOS, and Android platforms. Players can also earn limited amounts of premium currency through gameplay activities, daily login rewards, and event participation, though the earning rate is slower than purchasing.
A significant portion of the monetization revolves around cosmetic items that change the visual appearance of characters and equipment without affecting gameplay statistics.
Character skins: alternate outfits and visual themes for the Flowborn protagonist and hero transformation appearances
Weapon skins: visual reskins for equipped weapons that change their appearance without altering stats
Mount cosmetics: custom appearances for horses, hoverboards, and other traversal options
Emotes and effects: victory poses, idle animations, and visual effects for social interactions
Glider skins: alternate designs for the glider used in open world traversal
All PvE content is accessible without spending money. This includes the full main story campaign, all dungeons and raids, open world exploration, side quests, crafting, housing (when released), and all other gameplay systems. Free-to-play players can access the same endgame content as paying players. The difference lies in the rate at which characters and weapons are acquired through the gacha, not in content gating.
PvP balancing is handled separately from PvE gear progression to ensure competitive fairness. In structured PvP modes, the game normalizes stats or uses fixed loadouts so that the outcome depends on player skill rather than equipment quality. This design choice was a direct response to community concerns about pay-to-win dynamics in competitive modes. The goal is to ensure that a free-to-play player competing in PvP is on equal footing with a paying player.
Lead Designer Simen Lv addressed monetization concerns directly during the GDC 2025 developer Q&A. Key statements from the session include the following.
No pay-to-win: the team stated that no gameplay content, dungeon, raid, or story chapter would ever be locked behind a paywall
Player choice: the monetization design emphasizes optional spending rather than forced spending, with the goal of making players feel rewarded for playing rather than punished for not paying
Gacha transparency: pull rates and pity thresholds are displayed in-game, and the team committed to publishing rate information publicly
Cosmetic focus: the long-term revenue strategy relies on a steady stream of desirable cosmetic content rather than power-based purchases
Honor of Kings: World's monetization sits within the established free-to-play gacha model used by games like Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves. The 0.6% 5-star rate and 90-pull pity are comparable to industry norms. The key differentiator is the explicit commitment to PvP stat normalization, which addresses one of the most common criticisms of gacha-based games with competitive multiplayer modes.