Riot Games has announced that active development for its League of Legends-themed fighting game, 2XKO, will conclude in December 2026. The decision comes as the studio cited a lack of sustained player engagement necessary for the game's long-term viability.
In a blog post released on August 20, the 2XKO development team stated that while the game attracted initial interest and cultivated a dedicated community, it has not seen enough players remain with the title to support continued active development. "We haven’t seen enough players stick with the game to get to a path toward sustainability," the team explained.
Despite the cessation of active development, 2XKO is expected to remain accessible online beyond 2026, with offline play unaffected. The final content update is scheduled for October, which will include feature improvements and introduce two new champions: Lux and Samira. A final bug fix patch is planned for December.
Riot Games has outlined a plan for the transition. In the coming months, purchases of KO Points will be disabled, and all in-game purchases made before August 20 will be refunded. A cosmetic bundle featuring nearly all in-game items will be available for $39.99, with most other cosmetic items becoming purchasable with Credits. Additionally, most gameplay content, including all champions, will be unlocked for all players. Systems such as Battle Passes, KO Points, Champion Tokens, seasons, and events will be removed. Ranked lobbies will also be disabled to consolidate the player base into a single matchmaking pool per server, though casual lobbies will continue to matchmake by skill. Private lobbies will remain operational.
The 2XKO Competitive Series will continue through the end of 2026, with Riot providing support and prizing for major and challenger events. The final Competitive Series event is slated for November. Following this, tournament organizers will be permitted to run both online and offline events using their own community competition guidelines.
The development team elaborated on the reasoning behind the decision, noting that while "diehard tag fighter players loved 2XKO, but most other fighting game players struggled to find reasons to stick with the game." They explored various options, including workforce reductions and business model adjustments, but concluded that "finishing the rest of our work-in-progress content and sunsetting active development was the best route forward for players and Rioters."
The news has been met with disappointment from the fighting game community. Evo, the world's largest fighting game tournament, expressed their condolences to the team. Players have voiced concerns regarding Riot's approach to titles that do not achieve the same level of success as League of Legends, with some suggesting that expectations for new titles are set unrealistically high.
Speculation about 2XKO's future had been circulating since February, following layoffs that affected a significant portion of the game's development team. The recent announcement confirms these concerns, though the continuation of online services offers a measure of solace for the existing player base.