Riot Games to end active 2XKO development in late 2026

After three rounds of layoffs surrounding the development of 2XKO, Riot Games delivered the final blow to its project on August 20, 2026, barely eight months after the release of its fighting game. Unveiled in 2019 under the codename Project L, it was renamed 2XKO in February 2024 before entering Early Access in October 2025. 2XKO will see active development come to an end in late 2026.

In its lengthy statement published alongside the announcement, the North American publisher said it had been closely monitoring the game’s trajectory and that it had not “seen enough players stick with the game to get to a path toward sustainability.” However, Riot Games tried to offer some reassurance, if that is still possible, explaining that the game’s servers will remain online, that Lux and Samira, the two announced champions, will indeed be added to the game, and that a “final bug fix patch” will be released in December.

As a bonus, Riot Games explained that all of the game’s champions will be unlocked and that they will “also [be] bundling most cosmetic items and refunding all money spent in 2XKO on or before August 20.”

On the esports side, the publisher unveiled the 2XKO Competitive Series at the beginning of the year, a full-year circuit featuring five Majors and smaller tournaments to pace the season and, above all, align with the way the Fighting Game Community operates. As such, 2XKO was featured at all three EVO tournaments this year without being a major success either, failing to surpass the established games and even finding itself behind titles that exist primarily through competitive play. Going forward, Riot announced that “beyond 2026, TOs can continue to run events featuring 2XKO using the Community Competition Guidelines, online or offline.”

Organizations already involved in the game, such as FlyQuest in North America, have already announced on X that it “remains committed to the FCG, its players,” and that “Riot may be closing its chapter on the FCG earlier than we hoped, but ours isn’t ending.” For French Gentle Mates player Marwan “Wawa” Berthe, the end is “pretty sad” and “2XKO had a lot of potential; it's a shame,” suggesting that he had probably expected more from Riot Games. Fighting game legend Dominique “SonicFox” McLean also reacted on X, simply saying: “Wow. Unbelievable. This really sucks.”

Unfortunately, the situation did not come as much of a surprise to the community. Back in August 2025, around six developers at Demiurge Studios, the co-developer of 2XKO alongside Riot Games, were laid off. It was a small piece of news, but one that was overshadowed in February 2026 by two rounds of layoffs in quick succession, affecting around 80 people in total, or roughly half of the workforce that had been working on 2XKO.