'2XKO' entered early access last October and didn't fully launch until this January—now the developers have confirmed they're shutting the game down, less than a year after its full release. The free-to-play 2v2 fighting game, starring characters from 'League of Legends' and 'Arcane,' let players duke it out solo with a pair of characters or team up with friends. It was once seen as Riot Games' ambitious bid to break into the fighting game genre.
According to an official blog post, the team has spent the past several months tracking '2XKO' player data, and the conclusion has been consistent: plenty of people are willing to jump in and try it out, and the community includes diehard fans who log in daily—but not enough players are sticking around to sustain long-term operations. "While we've seen a lot of people jump in to try the game, and a great community that plays every day, we haven't seen enough players stick around to put us on a sustainable path," the post reads.
Riot Games' official account laid out the timeline on social media on August 20: active development will wrap up in December, with one final content update dropping in October—including the two new characters originally planned, Lux and Samira. After development ends, servers will remain operational for players to connect and battle, and offline mode won't be affected either. The company says it will give advance notice of any future changes. All in-game purchases made before August 20 will be fully refunded.
"Our dream was to make a fighting game that the FGC would want to play with their friends. We wanted to pay respect to the great games that came before us, while bringing Riot's understanding of live service to a group of hungry new players," the post reads. "Right now, our focus is on doing right by the players who've already invested in 2XKO and want to keep playing, and by the Rioters who poured everything into this dream."
At launch, '2XKO' brought in Spiritbox frontwoman Courtney LaPlante to perform the game's official theme song, while the opening track "Let's Go" was handled by Polyphia—two music credits that once helped the game generate buzz even outside fighting game circles. Now that active development is coming to a close, the servers and offline mode will remain in place for existing players to keep playing, though there won't be any new content updates going forward.
