Why Are the Luckin Coffee Honor of Kings Cups Causing Pressure?

Luckin Coffee has launched a co-branding campaign with the mobile game Honor of Kings, timed to the game's 10th anniversary celebration in October. The collaboration includes a specialty drink called Pain Mask Tamarind Americano, plus merchandise such as handheld fans, insulated tumblers, and gold-stamped badges across stores nationwide.

The most talked-about element is the set of 10 themed cup designs covering 5 game characters, split into 1 hot cup, 2 cold cups, 2 light milk tea cups, and 5 extra-large PP cups. Customers can collect them through designated drinks and set meals, but staff report a heavy burden identifying and stocking so many designs, a familiar strain across the coffee industry.

Luckin Coffee's co-branding campaign with the hit mobile game Honor of Kings has officially launched, coinciding with the game's 10th anniversary celebration, drawing widespread attention from players. The collaboration introduces a game-equipment-inspired specialty drink, the "Pain Mask · Tamarind Americano," along with merchandise such as handheld fans, insulated tumblers, and gold-stamped badges. During the campaign, stores nationwide are rolling out a co-branded trio consisting of takeaway cups, cup sleeves, and paper bags, with the most eye-catching item being as many as 10 themed cup designs covering 5 game characters. The variety has players thrilled, but it places a double burden of identification and stocking on store staff. Front Street Coffee continues to follow coffee industry developments, bringing you frontline observations.

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Luckin Coffee's co-branding collaboration with the highly popular mobile game Honor of Kings officially debuted yesterday. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Honor of Kings' launch, and October falls right within the game's 10th anniversary celebration period. Luckin's choice to launch the collaboration at this special moment clearly succeeded in attracting a large number of gamers' attention.

(Image screenshot from official Weibo)

For this collaboration, Luckin created a specialty coffee drink inspired by game equipment, the "Pain Mask · Tamarind Americano," and simultaneously released multiple themed merchandise items incorporating game elements, including handheld fans, insulated tumblers, and gold-stamped badges.

During the co-branding campaign, Luckin stores nationwide, as usual, rolled out the "co-branded trio" that never misses any collaboration—namely takeaway cups, cup sleeves, and paper bags. Notably, the brand designed a total of 10 themed cup designs this time, specifically including 1 hot drink cup, 2 cold drink cups, 2 light milk tea takeaway cups, and 5 extra-large PP cups. The sheer number of designs caught many users off guard, with many exclaiming they "can't choose."

According to the official campaign information, these 10 themed cups each feature 5 popular game characters. Users can purchase designated drinks or set meals based on their preferences and needs to obtain their desired themed merchandise and limited-edition packaging.

Faced with Luckin's abundant merchandise lineup, many gamers remarked that the brand was full of sincerity and were excited about the campaign. Many studied acquisition guides in advance, waiting only for the event to begin so they could snatch items up at gaming speed. However, Luckin workers who learned through internal information ahead of time that there would be 10 different themed cup designs felt their vision go black, helplessly saying, "Luckin and Honor of Kings collab—could you also consider the store staff?"

Staff reported that although the official collaboration rules always note "themed cup characters are random," the reality is that many fans add notes when ordering requesting a cup featuring a specific game character. To avoid store complaints, many workers dare not casually grab a takeaway cup to make do, instead trying their best to accommodate every request.

If, as with previous collaborations, there were only two or three themed cups, many staff admitted that preparing in advance would not cause much trouble. But this campaign launched 10 themed cup designs at once, covering 5 game characters, immediately leaving workers unfamiliar with Honor of Kings struggling to "recognize the characters," and leaving newly hired staff unable to tell which drink corresponds to which cup type, saying frankly that it's easy to give customers the wrong takeaway cup when busy.

Additionally, staff revealed that perhaps because there are too many themed cup designs this time, the number of each type of takeaway cup Luckin distributed to stores is quite limited. Many workers could hardly hide their concerns, saying that if a popular character's drink cups run out on the first day of the campaign, stores might receive bad reviews in the following days for being unable to meet customer demand.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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