Riot Games has made a bit of a habit of exploring different video game ventures and then proceeding to soon cancel or move away from these endeavours. In recent memory, aside from Valorant, the studio has effectively pulled the plug on all of its efforts beyond the main League of Legends MOBA, and this is now happening once more.
The company has revealed development will soon be coming to an end for the tag battler known as 2XKO. In a lengthy blog post, Riot Games notes development will be concluding by the end of 2026, but this doesn't mean the game is being shut down before we reach 2027, as it has promised the servers will remain accessible and online on all platforms beyond this date.
Speaking about what's to come, we're told more content, feature improvements, two new champions in Lux and Samira, and a final big bug fix patch will all debut before the development is stopped. After this, no new content will be issued, but the game will remain accessible, all content players have collected will remain available, and once the time does come to move on, all champions and most content will be made available for all players.
Riot Games has also noted KO Points are now being disabled and will no longer be purchasable. For those who have spent money on the game and who want a refund after hearing about this news, refunds are also starting to be offered. That being said, if you do want to continue to support the game, in September a cosmetic bundle is debuting for a flat rate of £33.99/€39.99 to grant all buyers access to "nearly all of 2XKO cosmetic content".
As for why this has come about, Riot explains the following:
"We evaluated the game's overall performance—not just revenue, but retention, new players, and engagement—through 2026. We saw positive player reactions through the releases of Akali, Senna, Thresh, The Climb (PVE), and some amazing competitive events throughout the year. Even in these highlight moments, however, we saw no meaningful, sustained change in 2XKO's trajectory; only a fraction of what it would take to trend toward sustainability. Over time it became clear it would be impossible for us to continue actively developing the game as we are today.
"In recent months, the team has continued to take bold swings while fully aware of 2XKO's challenges—but to attempt another year hoping for a way forward would have been an irresponsible choice for players and the dev team. To be super clear: we would have continued active development if we saw any viable future, but 2XKO costs us substantially more to operate than it brings in, and engagement has stayed relatively flat despite our larger updates.
"So when we looked at all the options available (e.g., reducing team size, adjusting our patch schedules, changing our business model), we concluded that finishing the rest of our work-in-progress content and sunsetting active development was the best route forward for players and Rioters."
Despite the frequent nature of starting new projects and soon abandoning them, Riot Games has promised to "keep exploring new genres and ways to bring players together," so perhaps there will be even more ideas presented to fans down the line.
