Riot Games Is Ending Active Development on 2XKO

Riot Games just put out an official announcement today about the future of 2XKO, the free 2v2 fighting game. The announcement states that 2XKO will end active development by December 2026 and enter maintenance mode.

The End of 2XKO

After launching back in January of this year, 2XKO is now officially shutting down its active development at the end of this year. However, before that occurs, there will be one final content patch that goes live in October. In addition, all in-game purchases made before August 20 will be refunded. Avatar and player profile items will be unlockable for Credits.

But there is some good news despite all of this. Servers will remain on beyond 2026, and 2XKO will continue to be playable on all platforms. Plus, two new champions (Lux and Samira) will be coming to the game with the final few patches. Speaking of champions, all champs will be fully unlocked, and most cosmetic items will be getting thrown into bundles.

Also, Ranked will be removed, along with Battle Passes, KO Points, Champion Tokens, seasons, and events.

But why is 2XKO’s development shutting down all of a sudden? Riot had this to say:

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.