Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill has detailed the immense player engagement required for 2XKO, the company's recently canceled fighting game, to justify its development budget. Speaking on The Lemonade Stand podcast, Merrill stated that the game would have needed "in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions" of monthly active players to rationalize its continued support, a figure that has ignited discussion within the fighting game community.
Merrill explained that the unexpected release of Capcom's Street Fighter 6 in 2023 significantly disrupted Riot's plans. "We had an awesome development team of really talented people that did great work, that made a beautiful game," Merrill said. "We’d already communicated all this stuff to players, and so we were like, ‘You know what? Let’s just keep going. Let’s give it to the community. Let’s see what happens, right?’… I think if we came out, ideally when we should’ve, years before Street Fighter, I think we would have made a really significant impact on the community."
According to Merrill, a lack of internal strategic alignment at Riot led to "managerial fracturing." Ultimately, 2XKO failed to attract a sufficient player base to sustain its live-service model. Riot responded by issuing full refunds to all players and halting further content updates. "We’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves," Merrill admitted. "[2XKO] resonated with some players, but not nearly enough players in order to justify the sort of live service, long-tail approach that the game was designed to do."
For context, Street Fighter 6, currently a dominant force in the fighting game genre, averages between 16,000 and 20,000 monthly active users on Steam alone, excluding PlayStation data. This stark contrast highlights the ambitious, and perhaps unrealistic, expectations Riot held for 2XKO.
Merrill's comments have drawn considerable reaction from fighting game enthusiasts. Many expressed surprise at the high player count threshold, particularly given the genre's often perceived niche status. Some community members suggested that Riot released the game despite knowing it might not meet expectations, hoping for a breakthrough, while others questioned the developer's apparent surprise at the success of Street Fighter 6, given the strong legacy of its predecessor.
Originally revealed as Project L in 2019, 2XKO's development was lengthy, and its release trajectory, from closed beta to extended early access, may have diminished anticipation. Riot officially announced an end to active development after December 2026, though online play is expected to remain unaffected.