Revision 5

Overview

Tencent and Honor of Kings have an ongoing collaboration with Liu Cixin, the Hugo Award-winning Chinese science fiction author best known for The Three-Body Problem. The collaboration was announced as part of the broader Honor of Kings IP in 2022, framed around Liu's "unique perception of Chinese culture and aesthetics" adding to future games in the franchise. As of April 2026 the specific shape of this collaboration inside Honor of Kings: World has not been publicly detailed by TiMi Studio Group, and readers should treat in-game narrative integration as an expectation rather than a confirmed fact.

The Franchise-Level Partnership

Liu Cixin is one of the most celebrated living science fiction writers, having won the Hugo Award in 2015 for The Three-Body Problem. His short story Poetry Cloud (诗云, Shiyun, 1997) is cited in multiple Tencent press releases as a touchstone for the collaboration. Poetry Cloud is about a godlike being attempting to surpass the poet Li Bai by computationally generating every possible Chinese poem. Tencent has framed the partnership as an ongoing relationship that will influence multiple Honor of Kings products rather than a one-time script-writing credit.

What Is Confirmed

• Liu Cixin has a confirmed relationship with the Honor of Kings IP at the franchise level (announced 2022 to 2023)

• The partnership draws on Liu's Poetry Cloud as a touchstone for narrative inspiration

• Li Bai is referenced in HoKW lore tied to the Chang'an region (a planned future zone), and the Poetry Cloud framing would fit thematically if his Resonance ships in a future season; he is not a playable Resonance at S0 launch.

What Is Not Confirmed

• Direct script or story beats credited to Liu Cixin inside Honor of Kings: World's launch content

• Specific characters, questlines, or regions authored by Liu for the open-world RPG

• Whether Poetry Cloud's plot beats are used as in-game lore or as thematic framing only

Players should not assume that every poetic or philosophical element in Honor of Kings: World traces directly to Liu Cixin. Much of the narrative framework draws on classical Chinese mythology and the Three Sages tradition of Jixia Academy. The Liu Cixin partnership is real and publicly announced, but its in-game footprint for Honor of Kings: World specifically has not been disclosed.