Riot Games is Downsizing 2XKO's Dev Team Less Than a Month After Launch

Riot Games has just confirmed that it’s reducing the size of 2XKO‘s development team. This announcement comes just three weeks after 2XKO‘s full 1.0 release on PC and consoles.

2XKO‘s journey to release has been a fairly lengthy one. Announced all the way back in 2019 as ‘Project L’, 2XKO was given an official title in August 2024, and launched into PC early access a little over a year later, in October 2025. 2XKO then received a full 1.0 release on January 20, 2026, landing on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S as a free-to-play live-service fighting game.

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2XKO’s Dev Team Is Already Facing Layoffs

Just three weeks after its full launch, 2XKO developer/publisher Riot Games has made an official statement regarding the fighting game’s ongoing development. Posted on its official website on February 9, Riot Games confirms at the very top of its statement that it’s “reducing the size of the 2XKO team.” Executive Producer Tom Cannon goes on to explain the reasoning behind this decision, saying:

“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.”

Cannon quickly reassures fans that despite this news, this isn’t the end of 2XKO‘s development. Cannon states that with a “smaller, focused team”, Riot is still aiming to deliver “key improvements” to the League of Legends fighting game, including some unspecified changes that fans have been asking for since launch. Cannon’s statement also confirms that plans for 2XKO‘s 2026 Competitive Series remain unchanged. In his final statement regarding the reasoning behind this downsizing, Cannon says that they’re “reshaping the team to give 2XKO a more sustainable path forward.”

Of course, downsizing 2XKO‘s development team has led to layoffs. While Riot is “committed to supporting impacted Rioters through this transition” and aims to reposition them in other departments in the company where possible, this won’t be the case for all employees. Those who can’t be repositioned will receive “a minimum of 6 months of notice pay and severance,” according to Tom Cannon’s official statement. A Riot spokesperson has since told the outlet Game Developer that approximately 80 workers were laid off, which is reportedly around half the development team. The statement concludes with a thank-you message to the 2XKO community, and a promise that Riot will continue communicating with fans about how the game is progressing in the near future.

Given that 2XKO has only been out a few weeks, this news has come as a bit of a surprise to many fans. This is especially true given 2XKO‘s positive critical reception. Upon its January release, 2XKO earned a Top Critic Average of 80 on OpenCritic, with 100% of critics recommending the game. Generally speaking, many critics praised 2XKO‘s bold art style, its core tag-fighting mechanics, and the game’s approachability for newcomers to the genre. While some critics highlighted the game’s small roster and a handful of technical shortcomings as clear issues, most agreed that they could be ironed out with post-launch updates.

Along with a strong critical reception, 2XKO also had strong brand recognition on its side, being a spinoff of one of the most popular multiplayer games of all time and tying in directly with the hype surrounding Netflix’s Arcane. However, some fans think that 2XKO‘s marketing could be a reason behind its lack of “overall momentum,” with the game’s title not clearly associating it with League of Legends or its universe of Runeterra.