Tencent Games ends Honor of Kings partnership with Burberry

A partnership between British luxury brand Burberry and Tencent Games, signed late last year to create skins for the hit game Honor of Kings, appears to have come to an end.

According to the official post on the Chinese social network Weibo of the representative of Honor of Kings, the deal is canceled.

Burberry signed with Tencent Games in November 2020, hoping to create in-game activations that would promote the luxury brand's various products. At the time the deal was announced, both Tencent Games and Burberry said they were targeting China's “trendy, digital customers” through joint collaboration.

While the Honor of Kings team did not name the reason the deal was canceled, it is likely that Burberry's stance on the use of cotton sourced from China's Xinjiang region played a role in that decision.

Recent studies state that more than 1 million people, most of them Muslim Uyghurs, are forced to work in the cotton fields in the region. China denies this, saying it is holding people back to stop terrorism and radicalization.

Several companies have made similar statements about the situation in the region, launching a campaign to end relations with the government, consumers and businesses in China.