2XKO hasn’t even finished its first month out on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S and Riot Games is already cutting its losses. The League of Legends maker announced that it would be laying off 80 employee as the tag-teaming fight game fails to gain momentum.
“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,” executive producer Tom Cannon wrote in a new blog post on February 9. “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.”
Featuring fighters from the League of Legends Runeterra universe, 2XKO features beautiful cell-shaded animations and tons of flashy combos. But none of that seemingly helped it make a huge splash in the fighting game community when it came to PC in Early Access last October. The game hits its 1.0 launch and arrived on consoles last month where it became the third most-downloaded free-to-play game across PS4 and PS5, putting it ahead of Marvel Rivals and Highguard.
That sounds…not bad considering the game’s existing trajectory, but apparently Riot was expecting something much bigger. Or maybe it was always the plan to cut the development team in half after release as the League of Legends company struggles to find success outside of its hit MOBA.
Cannon said the there’s no plans to pull the plug on 2XKO and its remaining team will continue updating the game and carrying through with its year-one competitive plans. “Ultimately, this decision reflects a shift in how we operate,” he wrote. “This isn’t a judgment on individual Rioters or a signal that the journey is over. We’re reshaping the team to give 2XKO a more sustainable path forward.”
Cannon acknowledged how bad the layoffs and the timing sounded. “I know this update will raise questions and concerns,” he wrote. “That’s understandable.” But he didn’t have anything more concrete to share to reassure fans.
