Tencent's 'Honor of Kings' Tries to Crack the U.S.

China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. is banking on a successful launch abroad for “Honor of Kings,” but the hit smartphone game faces an uphill battle in the U.S., where the company can’t lean on its popular messaging apps to hook players.

The game, which allows teams of players to battle one another online, is so popular in China that Tencent earlier this year installed a curfew for young players after one state-run newspaper called it a “drug” and “poison.”