Shortly after the launch of fighting game 2XKO, Riot Games had announced that the development team is shrinking. While the announcement of this restructuring didn’t reveal how many employees were impacted by it, the company has now confirmed it to be around half of the game’s team members in a statement to Game Developer. This amounts to roughly 80 workers.
2XKO executive producer Tom Cannon, who made the original announcement of the team’s shrinking, explained that the decision was made due to the game’s momentum not hitting the levels where the original team size could be feasible in the long term.
“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,” he explained.
Going forward, 2XKO will be handled by a smaller team that will focus on making “key improvements” to the game. The company’s plans to support the fighting game’s competitive scene for 2026 haven’t seen any changes, however, and partnerships with tournament organizers and local communities are continuing.
“With a smaller, focused team, we’re going to dig in and make key improvements to the game, including some of the things we’ve already heard you asking for. We’ll share some of our plans soon,” Cannon continued.
The workers impacted by these lay-offs will get full support from Riot Games, with the company giving them a minimum of six months of notice pay along with severance pay. The employees are also being encouraged to explore new opportunities with other teams at the company.
“I know this update will raise questions and concerns. That’s understandable. We’ll continue communicating about how things are progressing,” acknowledged Cannon. “In the journey so far we’ve been humbled and dazzled by the energy and passion you’ve brought to the 2XKO community. That energy matters, and it will help fuel us into this next chapter as we improve the game.”
2XKO was released on PC as an Early Access title in October 2025. January saw Riot Games attempting to further its reach by bringing the fighting game to consoles as well. The fighting game had been in development for quite some time, and was originally known simply as Project L before eventually getting its official title in February 2024.
With 2XKO, Riot Games hopes to attract a more casual audience to fighting games while still maintaining the depth and complexity that the genre is known for. You can learn more details about it in our review, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its beginner-friendly gameplay, tutorials, and netcode. We did point out our worries of its potential monetization, as well as the fact that much of its roster starts out being locked.
In the meantime, Riot Games has also been working on its own MMORPG. No details about the project have been revealed however.
