Riot Games is throwing in the towel on 2XKO. As reported by Kotaku, the studio will end active development on its League Of Legends-themed fighting game at the end of the year — meaning the title will never live to see its first official birthday. It’s a shockingly swift exit for a project that spent years as one of the most hotly anticipated fighting games in the industry.
Riot Calls Time on Its League of Legends Fighter
According to Kotaku, active development on 2XKO will officially wrap up at the end of the year, less than twelve months after the free-to-play 2v2 tag-team fighter finally reached players. The game, which reimagined iconic League of Legends champions such as Ahri, Ekko, and Jinx as fighting game combatants, launched in early access in October 2025 on PC and consoles after a long and often turbulent road to release.
Despite the weight of the League of Legends brand behind it and a generally positive critical reception, 2XKO apparently failed to build the sustained player base Riot needed to justify continued investment — a harsh reality for a live-service fighting game in today’s brutally competitive market.
From Project L to an Early Grave
A Decade-Long Journey Cut Short
2XKO began life as “Project L,” first teased by Riot all the way back in 2019. The project gained instant credibility when it was revealed that development was being led by Tony Cannon and Tom Cannon, the brothers who co-founded the legendary Evo fighting game tournament and created GGPO, the rollback netcode technology that revolutionized online play in the genre. Riot had acquired the Cannons’ studio, Radiant Entertainment, back in 2016 specifically to build a fighter.
After years of teases, playable demos, and multiple delays, the game finally rebranded as 2XKO and launched in early access in late 2025. Few could have predicted that its journey would end before its first anniversary.
Why the Fighting Game Market Shows No Mercy
The writing may have been on the wall. The modern fighting game scene is dominated by giants like Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Mortal Kombat 1, all backed by decades of loyal fanbases. Meanwhile, other free-to-play challengers have faltered — MultiVersus famously met a similar fate despite a massive Warner Bros. IP lineup, proving that recognizable characters alone can’t guarantee longevity.
2XKO’s ambitious 2v2 tag-team format was genuinely innovative, but it also raised the skill barrier for newcomers and made matchmaking trickier. In a genre where casual players tend to drift away quickly after launch, retaining a healthy player count is everything. Even Riot’s deep pockets and marketing muscle couldn’t overcome the fundamental challenge: fighting games live or die by their communities.
What This Means for Players
For now, 2XKO remains playable, but with active development ending, players shouldn’t expect new champions, balance updates, or features down the line. The long-term outlook for the game’s servers remains an open question, and anyone who invested in cosmetics should temper expectations about the title’s future. It’s a sobering reminder of the risks that come with free-to-play, live-service titles — even ones backed by one of the biggest publishers in gaming.
While 2XKO itself was free to download, Riot fans looking to keep enjoying the company’s broader ecosystem can pick up Riot Points and other digital gift cards at TURGAME.com, which also offers game keys and gift cards for all major platforms at competitive prices.
Source: Kotaku