The prize money for the Honor of Kings Women’s Series 2026 is a huge insult

As Honor of Kings expands its worldwide esports scene in 2026, Stage Infinite has introduced some huge adjustments to the Honor of Queens aspect of issues as properly. 

Honor of Queens is the ladies’s esports circuit for Honor of Kings. For 2026, it’s going to develop into the Honor of Kings Ladies’s Sequence (KWS). 
Honor of Kings Ladies’s Sequence 2026
The Honor of Kings Ladies’s Sequence 3 will probably be happening alongside the Honor of Kings Invitational 2026 Season 4, making a 12 months full of HoK motion. There will probably be a $10,000 prize pool all through the season, which pales compared to the Invitational. 

The Group Stage will start January seventeenth, 2026, which is kind of quickly. It can run to the thirtieth. Throughout that month, the groups will probably be cut up into eight teams of eight, competing in a best-of-one, round-robin format. Each crew that good points 1 level within the Group Stage will earn $25 (or $5 a participant). 

Once more, this appears virtually like an insult once you keep in mind that the Honor of Kings Kings Professional League Grand Finals match had over 62,000 followers in attendance, posters and buying and selling playing cards on every seat, and tons of cash on the road. It was virtually just like the Honor of Kings rivals have been celebrities in China. 

After all, ladies’s esports usually does not get the identical quantity of fanfare. Nevertheless, providing such low prize cash won’t assist enhance the scene. Esports organizations will not see the chance as profitable sufficient to fund and prepare an all-female crew. Only for a bit of $10K? You may’t count on full-time coaching across the clock for that. Thus, ladies will not get the identical apply and expertise as their male counterparts.

In the meantime, followers do not actually need to watch decrease stage gamers compete for pennies, which suggests much less viewership, which suggests much less sponsors, which suggests a cycle of no one desirous to fund feminine esports. 

It is a vicious cycle that $25 will not resolve. 

Anyway, the highest groups from the Group Stage will advance to the Knockout Stage from February third to the seventh. That is additionally single-elimination, however best-of-three matches. Oh yeah, groups will get $100 for competing on the Quarter Finals… That is about $20 a participant (assuming the group will not take a proportion of the winnings). 

Take into account that the KPL Spring 2026 event collection has over $2.1 million on the road alone and it is simply one in every of many tournaments and circuits. The Kings Invitational Season 3 had over $1 million this 12 months and sure could have extra in 2026 because the competitors continues alongside the KWS. 

I’d by no means count on the ladies’s circuit to have equal cash on the road, however a drop to $10,000 is loopy work. 

The official Honor of Kings announcement has shared that registration is opening January 1st, 2026. Groups can fill out a Google Type in the event that they need to be taught extra concerning the circuit format and guidelines. 

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