Riot Games To Shut Down Fighting Game 2XKO, Due To Lack Of Player Retention
The League of Legends venture into fighters did little to ignite the FGC
"ColonelFancy" Mike Lind
8/24/20263 min read
Riot Games to suspend active development for 2XKO in December
Layoffs to studio and lack of sustained player base cited as the leading cause
Servers will remain open "beyond 2026"
Company will offer refund to money spent on 2XKO before August 20th
The long, tenuous road for 2XKO officially comes to end later this year. In a news update posted to their official site, Riot Games confirms that their free-to-play tag-based fighting game based on the world of League of Legends will wrap up all development and patch updates December 2026. This comes after the game has only been out for 8 months, following its global launch January 20th.
2XKO’s active development will conclude at the end of 2026. Over the last few months, we’ve been monitoring 2XKO’s trajectory closely, and what we’ve seen is painting a clear, consistent picture: while a lot of you jumped in to try the game and there's an incredible community that plays every day, we haven’t seen enough players stick with the game to get to a path toward sustainability.
After a fairly decent launch, things began to look dire almost immediately, as half of the team working on 2XKO were laid off only weeks after launch. The solid player count dwindled quickly, and many can take a look at the autopsy to find out what went wrong. By its design, Riot Games were not necessarily targeting the fighting game community. The easy access style of play aimed for a more casual audience, with hopes to build off that. With its free-to-play model, revenue would come from cosmetics and battle pass purchases.
WHAT HAPPENS FROM HERE?
Riot will at least aim to make right by the most dedicated players who invested in 2XKO. Here's a handful of notable changes coming to the final leg of the game. The full list can be read here.
Players on PC who made purchases with KO Points in the Starter Edition before August 20th will be refunded to the payment method used to buy them
For Xbox and PlayStation players, the refunds prior to purchases made before the August 20th applies as well. They stated that Xbox and PlayStation customer support will reach out with details
The new character Lux, who was announced at the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) will release with patch 1.3.1.
Samira will launch in October, and will be the game's final Champion
They will add purchasable bundles for all cosmetic content ($39.99USD)
Lux, the Lady of Luminosity (Riot Games)
Riot's statement continues:
We evaluated the game’s overall performance—not just revenue, but retention, new players, and engagement—through 2026. We saw positive player reactions through the releases of Akali, Senna, Thresh, The Climb (PVE), and some amazing competitive events throughout the year. Even in these highlight moments, however, we saw no meaningful, sustained change in 2XKO’s trajectory; only a fraction of what it would take to trend toward sustainability. Over time it became clear it would be impossible for us to continue actively developing the game as we are today.
Samira, The Desert Rose (Riot Games)
It's never good to see game developers and designers out of work, or to see a game with strong ambitions shut down. Perhaps the lesson that can be learned from the FGC, simply having a lot of fighting games available to play does not necessarily mean that it is a new "golden age" of fighters. A player base would have to want to PLAY and support these games in order for them to thrive.