The Switch hybrid portable/console has become an extraordinary success for Nintendo, breaking sales records worldwide. Accordingly, Tencent made an early decision to launch on the platform, releasing a Switch version of Arena of Valor in the fall of 2018, and it now has over 1M installs. Porting the game required nearly 30 programmers, artists, designers, and Unity.

The team used a mix of existing and new elements for Switch, porting localization resources and many assets from the mobile platform. For the rest, they developed new components for the file system, memory manager, and user manager, refined battle scene and character art, and rewrote portions of the shader. Alex Jin, Technical Director of the Switch version noted, “We were able to do some great things with the Switch platform, especially with graphics, and Unity was a tremendous help. We’re working on cross-play with other mobile versions, keeping in mind that the console game’s content is unique in many respects. For example, heroes have different stats.”

Tencent has a rigorous approach to ensuring quality and reliability at every stage of game development. Assets are double-checked before importing; each and every modification is reviewed; developers compete as part of QA; and, over 50K players help Tencent optimize gameplay before release. This discipline combines with the creativity of Tencent’s artists and game designers – plus help from Unity features, Enterprise Support, and the Asset Store – to deliver one of the world’s blockbuster MOBA games, year after year, on multiple platforms.