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