A competitor plays Honor of Kings during the 2017 King Pro League Spring Season in Shanghai in April. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Social networking is a key part of Honor of Kings' appeal to young women, according to Gamma Data. The game offers a platform for entertainment and communication, it pointed out.

Naturally, this has made the smartphone phenomena a worldwide hit. App tracker App Annie confirmed that Honor of Kings topped the global rankings for monthly revenue in May on both the App Store and Google Play.

"A major factor in its success is the billion-plus users on Tencent's social networking platforms WeChat and QQ," said Dong Zhen, interactive entertainment analyst at internet consultancy Analysys in Beijing.

"For smartphone users, it helps them kill spare time," he added.

The runaway success of Honor of Kings has also spawned an army of similar productions.

Another popular role-playing game is Onmyoji, which was rolled out by NetEase Inc, an online company based in Hangzhou. So far, it has attracted about 15 million monthly active users.

Monthly revenue for the game is projected to reach 900 million yuan compared to Honor of Kings' 1.8 billion yuan, a first quarter report by Gamma Data highlighted.

Zhai Li, 29, a digital product manager in Beijing, has spent nearly 10,000 yuan on Onmyoji upgrading his characters and buying game currency to purchase props that will help him advance to another level.

"I love the Japanese-style game and its teamwork model," said Zhai, who spends more than two hours playing the game every day. "I don't mind spending money as it gives me a better user experience."

In a global market report from research group Newzoo, mobile gaming is projected to generate $46.1 billion this year, accounting for 42 percent of all gaming revenue. By 2020, mobile gaming is predicted to account for 50 percent of the market.

Gaming in China is also expected to generate $27.5 billion with most of it coming from the mobile market.

"The rapidly growing mobile gaming sector in China is fueled by a large user base," said Teng of Gamma Data. "It is increasing each year but eventually it will grow more slowly and developers will need to seek new areas of expansion."