Revenue for Tencent’s runaway mobile success Honor of Kings (Arena of Valor) has blasted past $4 billion.

Sensor Tower estimates that this year the game has grossed $1.8 billion globally and picked up 68 million installs. Total downloads to date stand at 278 million.

Sales from third-party Android stores in China are not included in these estimates.

It was reported as recently as September 2018 that the game had crossed $3.5 billion in sales.

The top countries

Revenue outside of China is said to have increased 40 per cent year-on-year in 2018, passing $100 million so far this year.

The number of installs has remained consistent however at 46 million for the year.

Southeast Asia markets have proven by far the most popular territories outside of China. Around 33 per cent of downloads are said to come from Vietnam, while a further 25 per cent has been generated in Thailand. The US represented just two per cent.

Thailand proved the most lucrative country with 34 per cent of sales, followed closely by Taiwan at 29 per cent and Hong Kong at 14 per cent. The US version of the game made up five per cent of revenue.

Switching it up

The data comes as Arena of Valor passed one million downloads on another platform: the Nintendo Switch. It was launched on the console in September.

The milestone cements the Nintendo Switch as an increasingly viable home for free-to-play titles. It also hosts Warframe and Fortnite, which have both garnered over one million installs on the hardware.

It's not clear how much money Arena of Valor has made on Switch, however.