Riot Games’ 2XKO is getting a cut — the kind no one likes to talk about: as the League of Legends based fighting game expanded into the console market after a major launch on PC last year, the company says it has identified trends that, in its own wording, the game did not reach the oomph needed to keep that many people in the house.
In short-but-not-sweet terms: layoffs abound.
The sad news was broken by 2XKO’s executive producer, Tom Cannon, who stated: “I want you to know that decision wasn’t made lightly. As we expanded from PC to console, we saw consistent trends in how players were engaging with 2XKO. The game has resonated with a passionate core audience, but overall momentum hasn’t reached the level needed to support a team of this size long term.”
For the record, 2XKO arrived on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X on January 20th, with full cross platform support across the board.
2XKO brings a lot of untapped potential, if the team survives
2XKO is yet another bold strategy from Riot Games to expand on the League of Legends lore — and also allow the company to branch out and not be too dependent solely on the MOBA game and its e-Sports competitions, which has been dwindling somewhat, according to date from eSports Chartz: hours watched fell 28% to 136 million and tournament events dropped from 285 to 140, reflecting a significant decline in global viewership and engagement.
Speaking of which, 2XKO’s plans on the e-Sport front remain unchanged, according to Riot’s update: the 2026 Competitive Series is still moving forward the way it’s supposed to we already had one Major (XVIII Frosty Faustings, January 29—February 1st) and other four are planned from May throughout November (those being three EVO-related occasions and the Battle Coliseum, in Brazil).
“I want to be clear about something that matters deeply to me.
Tom Cannon
The people who helped ship 2XKO poured years of creativity, care, and belief into this game. Taking creative risks like this is hard, and the work they did is real and meaningful.
We’re committed to supporting impacted Rioters through this transition – including helping them explore opportunities within Riot where possible, and providing a minimum of 6 months of notice pay and severance where it’s not.”
This type of news sucks, especially given the fact that we just came out of a 2025 that was plagued by layoffs that cancelled a lot of games, only to be greeted by a certain French publisher announcing…layoffs that cancelled games this January.
Meanwhile, 2XKO’s team managed to bring up a game that has a lot of potential (think of it as “League of Legends and Guilty Gear had a baby”) and even giving room to licensed merch and unofficial game guides — both of those being telltale signs of an engaged community.
Too bad that some of these devs won’t see it coming to full fruition.
