It was only a few weeks ago that Riot Games officially launched its tag-battler 2XKO, a game that had been in-development on PC for some time and recently reached a state where it was ready for an official launch and dedicated console versions. However, clearly this hasn't been as successful of a debut as Riot had hoped, as in a blog post it's now confirmed that the team is being shrunk and layoffs are underway.
Riot notes that 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." As for what this means is that the team is shrinking to be more "focused" with the change set to alter how development is handled for the project to be "more sustainable".
We don't know the exact number of developers affected by the layoffs, but Riot has said it is "committed to supporting impacted Rioters through this transition - including helping them explore opportunities within Riot where possible, and providing a minimum of 6 months of notice pay and severance where it's not."
Beyond this, the previous plans for the 2026 Competitive Series for 2XKO remains in place, as do the various already locked-in tournaments arranged with third-party organisers, but still it's hardly a good look for a new game from such a big and well-known developer...