Riot Games said it will end active development of 2XKO, a free-to-play fighting game set in the League of Legends universe, at the end of 2026 [1, 2, 3]. The final content patch will arrive in October 2026 and include two new characters, Lux and Samira [1, 2, 4].
While development stops, Riot will keep online servers running to support multiplayer, and offline play will remain unaffected [1, 2, 3, 4]. Ranked lobbies will be disabled, but skill-based casual matchmaking and private lobbies will continue, Riot said, allowing players to still find matches at their level [2, 4].
In a move to compensate players, Riot is unlocking all champions and refunding all purchases made on or before August 20, 2026 [1, 2, 5]. They will also offer a bundle with nearly all cosmetic items for about $40 [2, 4].
2XKO launched in early access on PC in October 2025 and had a full release on PC and consoles in January 2026 [3, 6]. Despite this, Riot cut about 80 development roles from the 2XKO team within a month of launch in February 2026 [2, 7, 6].
Riot attributed the end of development to insufficient player retention, revenue, and engagement despite updates. "While a lot of you jumped in to try the game and there's an incredible community that plays every day, we haven’t seen enough players stick with the game to get to a path toward sustainability," Riot said [1]. They added, "2XKO costs us substantially more to operate than it brings in, and engagement has stayed relatively flat despite our larger updates" [1].
The game struggled to build a sustainable player base despite competitive events and a dedicated community [1, 2, 7]. Some players reacted with disappointment and criticism, with streamer Ludwig calling Riot's approach "pure profit or die" [5].
The 2XKO project began nearly a decade ago, initially known as Project L and officially revealed in 2019 [2, 7]. Riot has not announced layoffs linked to the new shutdown, though previous cuts affected about 80 developers earlier this year [2, 8].
Riot plans to release the September patch 1.3.1 with Lux and the cosmetic bundle, followed by the October patch adding Samira, before ending development after a final bug fix in December 2026. Servers will stay online for continued play after that [1, 2, 4, 9, 10].
