Game Developer
Riot Games to Wind Down 2XKO Active Development in December
.png?width=720&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Summary
Riot Games has announced that it will be winding down active development on 2XKO, its highly anticipated League of Legends fighting game, starting in December. The company stated that the game has not seen enough players stick with it to achieve a sustainable path forward. This marks a major setback for the title, formerly known as Project L, which was first revealed years ago and generated significant excitement due to Riot's popular IP and the game's polished presentation, deep combat mechanics, and faithful adaptation of beloved champions. Despite positive impressions during playtests, the game reportedly struggled to maintain player retention, with many users drifting away after initial sessions. As a result, Riot has decided to reallocate resources away from 2XKO's development, likely meaning the game will not see a full launch or live-service support. For fans, this is a disappointing outcome, especially those who had invested time in testing and participating in the game's community. The news also carries broader implications for the industry: it highlights the immense difficulty of breaking into the competitive fighting game market, even for a major studio with a powerful IP and extensive experience in live-service games. The decision underscores the importance of sustained player engagement and the challenges of building a healthy player base in a genre dominated by…
Games mentioned
- Open 2XKO timeline · Heat 0
- Open 英雄联盟 timeline · Heat 0
Related on-site stories
- 《2XKO》最后两个新英雄？莎弥拉瑟提10月27日登场
拳头游戏10月7日宣布，基于《英雄联盟》的免费组队格斗游戏《2XKO》将于10月27日新增两名可用角色：莎弥拉（Samira）与瑟提（Sett），并同步放出了两人的实机演示预告片。 官方视频： 两人均出自《英雄联盟》。其中莎弥拉此前已被列…
游民星空 - Riot needed absurd player counts 'in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions' for 2XKO, dooming it from launch
2XKO ending its development (which Merrill phrases here as turning it into a "box game" instead, despite the fact Riot…
PC Gamer - 2XKO would have needed an MAU base "in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions" to succeed
Riot Games' 2XKO would have had to attract a base of monthly active users "in the high hundreds of thousands, if not mi…
GamesIndustry.biz - Riot Games Co-Founder Says 2XKO Needed ‘Hundreds of Thousands, if Not Millions’ of Monthly Active Players to Survive
The co-founder, co-chairman, and chief product officer of Riot Games, Marc Merrill, revealed the number of monthly acti…
IGN Games - Riot co-founder doesn't think 2XKO was 'a mistake' but perhaps a tough sell: 'You're not just competing against games, you're competing against everything'
After years of development, a shaky launch, and layoffs a mere three weeks later , the inevitable came for Riot's tag f…
PC Gamer - "Many a brave knight are going to die" - Riot Games head Marc Merrill speaks on in-development MMO after 2XKO's untimely demise
Marc Merrill - one of the co-founders of Riot Games and its current CPO - has spoken about the in-development MMO, desc…
Eurogamer