- Primary Subject: 2XKO
- Key Update: Riot is cutting the 2XKO development team size
- Status: Official (Confirmed via Tom Cannon)
- Last Verified: February 9, 2026
- Quick Answer: Executive Producer Tom Cannon confirmed that while the game has a "passionate core," the team is being reduced to ensure long-term sustainability.
The 2XKO development team is being reduced just a few weeks after its official launch on consoles, Riot Games has announced.
Revealed via a blog post penned by Executive Producer Tom Cannon, he went on to explain that while 2XKO had cultivated a devoted fanbase during its early access period heading into the 1.0 release, which included launching on consoles, momentum wasn't increasing at the rate Riot was originally hoping it would.
"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."
What this could entail, nobody really knows. If it's player interest, the game managed to rank among the most downloaded free-to-play games on the PlayStation Store, just below Roblox and Fortnite. If we're talking about monetizing the current playerbase, that could be a different story, as skins tend to be priced extremely high, just like in any other Riot game, something that could turn off fighting game fans (the Ahri Arcade skin costs around $30).
Trying to look at the bright side, Cannon promised that the smaller team will remain highly focused on delivering on promises made for 2026, including things the community has been asking for quite some time.
Of course, balance changes are at the top of virtually everyone's lists, as Champions such as Yasuo and Ekko have been the dominant force of 2XKO (and by a significant margin) for far too long.
Naturally, the development of new Champions could be severely hampered by this downsizing; however, that's all speculation at this point, as the team could have prepared post-release content ahead of time that requires minimal polishing. At least that would be the best-case scenario.
In any case, the original promise of 2XKO in the fighting game genre was to become a revolutionary, free-to-play experience that would take over the FGC and prove a new business model could work. The harsh reality is that it's now looking a lot closer to becoming yet another MultiVersus.
And that's it. Stick with us at Gfinityesports.com: your go-to source for all things fighting games.