Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Image Credit: Tempusrob / Evo / X. The FGC was shocked and saddened by a seemingly sudden update from Riot Games: 2XKO will essentially shut down by the end of 2026. It was one of those moments for me where I had to hold back from saying, “I told you so.”
See, I’ve been predicting 2XKO’s demise for a while now , not feeling too confident due to Riot’s massive expectations for a niche fighting title. It seemed like Riot felt 2XKO would defy expectations and expand to mainstream esports status, and make some money on its expensive skins .
It’s safe to say that this announcement didn’t shock me at all . But that doesn’t make it any less sad. 2XKO hasn’t been around too long, but a very passionate community has formed around its esports scene. The shutdown is nothing to celebrate at all.
In fact, it simply highlights how Riot fumbled a fighting game that initially had a lot of promise. I spoke with commentator and content creator Corey “Nitten” Salva and co-streamer and grassroots esports organizer Hieu “hieule8” Van Le about 2XKO’s sad ending and Riot’s wrongdoings.
Image Credit: TempusRob / Evo On August 20th, Riot announced that active development was coming to an end come December 2026. While “a lot of you” played the game, it just wasn’t enough to make the game sustainable for Riot.
Riot went on to explain that they would be dumping a bunch of content, improvements, and champions into the game. All champions will be unlocked. All cosmetics can be purchased in a bundle. However, most in the FGC were not pleased. Far from it.
In the announcement, Riot essentially admitted that the game wasn’t making enough money or attracting enough players to make it worth their while, even after introducing major changes and a reliable netcode. The letter stated: “Over time, it became clear it would be impossible for us to continue actively developing the game as we are today.
But here’s the thing: 2XKO wasn’t a bad game. That’s what has made the shutdown harder. The netcode was great, the tag team gameplay filled a niche in the FGC, and the matches felt polished and exciting. And watching it at Evo , I felt it was extremely fun to watch, with tons of storylines and rivalries.
There have been some complaints, of course. The small starting roster being one. But the community largely feels Riot’s expectations were far too high, leading to its demise. Said Ludwig Ahgren : “Bro, Riot is inane. It feels like Mark Marrell has the company in a chokehold, where if their game doesn’t make $1 billion dollars instantly, he shuts it down. No community building, no thought of making a beautiful game, just pure profit or die.”
Financial expectations for 2XKO were never realistic unfortunately. Bear in mind it STILL would have been seen as a failure internally with SF6-level numbers if the player base didn't whale out. Not every genre is a F2P cashcow (nor should it be.) https://t.co/Jm7UjkJSi9
Nitten and hieule8 both expressed a similar viewpoint: RiotR…