According to Riot Games’ chief product officer, Marc Merrill, the fighting‑game project known as 2XKO would have required a massive monthly active user (MAU) base—"in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions"—to become financially viable and support its intended live‑service model. In a recent appearance on The Lemonade Stand podcast, which was highlighted by IGN, Merrill explained that although the title managed to strike a chord with a dedicated niche of gamers, the total number of participants fell dramatically short of the critical mass needed for ongoing operational sustainability.
Merrill emphasized that the live‑service approach, which relies on continuous content updates, seasonal events, and a robust competitive ecosystem, is fundamentally dependent on a large, consistently engaged player pool. Without that scale, the costs associated with server maintenance, matchmaking infrastructure, and regular balance patches quickly outpace any revenue generated from in‑game purchases or other monetisation streams.
He noted that 2XKO’s development team observed a flat engagement curve even after deploying substantial updates, indicating that the game struggled to retain or attract new players at the pace required for a healthy economic model. Development on 2XKO officially halted in August, as the project proved to be "substantially more expensive to operate than it brought in," according to the internal statements released by Riot. Despite the cessation of new content, the game remains accessible to the public. It can still be downloaded for free on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, and Riot has committed to keeping the servers online at least through 2026, allowing existing fans to continue playing the title in its current state.
Merrill also pointed to external market factors that compounded the challenges faced by 2XKO. One of the most significant was the launch of Capcom’s Street Fighter 6, a heavyweight entry in the fighting‑game genre that arrived roughly eight years after Riot began work on 2XKO. "We had a window to do some great things to really help the fighting game community, and then Street Fighter 6 came out," Merrill said. The timing meant that 2XKO was forced to compete for attention and player dollars against a well‑established franchise with a massive, loyal fan base and a deep competitive history.
He suggested that if 2XKO had been released earlier—ideally years before Street Fighter 6—its impact on the community could have been far more pronounced. Reflecting on the development journey, Merrill praised the talent and dedication of the team behind 2XKO. "We had an awesome development team of really talented people that did great work and made a beautiful game," he remarked. The team had already communicated their vision and roadmap to the community, and there was an internal consensus to push forward despite the mounting challenges.
"We were like, 'You know what? Let's keep going, let's give it to the community. Let's see what happens,'" he recalled. The origins of 2XKO trace back to Riot’s 2016 acquisition of Radiant Entertainment, a studio known for its experimental fighting‑game project Rising Thunder.
Rising Thunder, which entered alpha in 2015, featured a minimalist control scheme and a focus on 1v1 combat that resonated with hardcore fighting‑game enthusiasts. After acquiring Radiant, Riot removed Rising Thunder from commercial storefronts and eventually cancelled further development, later releasing the code as open source. Merrill explained that the vision for 2XKO was to blend the elegant simplicity of Rising Thunder’s mechanics with the rich lore and characters of Riot’s League of Legends universe—particularly the Cannon brothers—and to embed the game within a Riot‑style competitive ecosystem that could support tournaments, rankings, and a thriving esports scene. However, the project’s trajectory was not smooth.
Leadership turnover within Riot led to strategic misalignment, which Merrill described as "managerial fracturing." Conflicting guidance from different executives created uncertainty about the game’s direction, monetisation strategy, and target audience. This lack of unified vision made it difficult to adapt the product roadmap in response to market feedback and internal performance metrics.
In hindsight, Merrill admitted that the responsibility for these missteps lies within the organization itself: "We've got nobody to blame but ourselves." In summary, 2XKO’s story illustrates the high stakes of launching a live‑service fighting game in a crowded market. Even with a polished product, talented developers, and a clear design philosophy, success hinges on achieving a critical mass of active players and navigating competitive releases from established franchises. Riot’s commitment to keep the servers running through 2026 offers a silver lining for the existing community, allowing fans to continue enjoying the game while the company reflects on the lessons learned from this ambitious venture.