In a surprising announcement today, Riot Games confirmed that active development on their fighting game spinoff, 2XKO, is coming to an end. While the servers will remain online beyond 2026, this marks a significant shift for the title and its dedicated player base.
A Community That Embraced the Game
As explained in a blog post”>blog post, the decision to halt active development stems from a lack of sufficient adoption and retention rates. While Riot acknowledges a committed community that “fully embraced” the game, it wasn’t enough to sustain long-term viability. The team stated that even within the fighting game genre, dedicated tag fighter players loved 2XKO, but other players struggled to find reasons to stick with the game.
What This Means for Players
The good news is that the game will remain playable on all platforms, and an offline mode means local play won’t be affected even when the servers eventually go down. To show appreciation for its player base, Riot is offering refunds for purchases made before August 20th, allowing players to keep everything they bought.
New Content and Changes on the Horizon
Despite the end of active development, there’s still content coming to 2XKO. The next patch, arriving September 8th, will introduce Lux, a “shoto-inspired character with a simple kit, who harnesses the power of light to illuminate her enemies.” A new bundle priced at $40/£33.99 will include all skins, skin chromas, and taunts for every champion. Avatar items, certain base champion chromas, and stages will be unlockable with credits, an in-game currency.
Ranked mode is being removed “to ensure that we can matchmake within a single pool of players per server,” but casual lobbies will still be matchmade by skill. The October patch, the final major update, will add Samira, the Desert Rose, a “bounty hunter who fights with bombastic flair, switching between her sword and dual pistols for maximum style.”
The Bigger Picture
This decision highlights the challenges faced by even major studios when trying to break into niche genres. Fighting games often have a high skill floor that can be intimidating to newcomers. The fact that about 80 devs were laid off only a month after launch”>about 80 developers were laid off just a month after the game’s release further underscores the difficulties in sustaining development and growth.
While disappointing for fans, this news serves as a reminder of the realities faced by game developers. Solidarity with any affected developers is warranted.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
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