this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2026
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2XKO Active Development Will End in December 2026 (www.riotgames.com)
submitted 3 days ago by ampersandrew@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
28 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Personally, Vanguard anti cheat and a lack of real ownership made this a no-go for me. I'm very in the FGC, but everyone I know that still plays the game, hates it. I don't know why they do it.

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[–] popcar2@piefed.ca 29 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

We're unlocking all champs. We’re also bundling most cosmetic items, and refunding all money spent in 2XKO on or before August 20.

All things considered, that's a nice gesture. As unlikely as it is I hope they also add offline & LAN play for when the servers inevitably shut down.

But man, it's VERY hard to care about anything Riot makes at this point when they make it clear they'll pull funding and kill a game if it doesn't meet LoL or Valorant expectations. I was a big fan of their card game but they also stopped development on it which is very disappointing.

[–] emb@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

I haven't tried it, but there's a line in the article "Offline play is unaffected." Does that mean there is an offline mode, or just that there still won't be one?

Ideally I'd like to see them do a physical console release next year with the final build. But I know that has no chance. Also ideally, and probably just as unlikely, would be great if I could play it on Linux. AFAIK there's anticheat that wouldn't let me play online if I tried.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

There's an offline mode, but it still needs to be authenticated through the Riot launcher, and depending on how it works, it could be a concern for preservation.

[–] galaxy_nova@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

Doesn’t game have vanguard? Kinda makes offline feel a bit useless. Also yah know Linux :sadge:

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 10 points 3 days ago (3 children)

It's hard to believe they didn't do the market research* to recognise that the FGC is quite small compared to other genres.

* like just talk to literally any gamer

[–] caut_R@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

That‘s what I thought. I wonder if there was any game they could‘ve made in this genre that would‘ve met THEIR expectations. There‘s money to be made for sure, but THAT kinda money with a fighting game? Just no way.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I've seen too many fighting games sell 10 million copies now to agree that fighting games are a small market.

[–] pory@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This one was f2p, so it doesn't matter how many copies it "sold". It needed dedicated long term players that would shell out for hats.

The casual fighting games market does exist, but it's going to be people that buy the fighting game for an IP they like (say, Dragon Ball Z) and play it for a couple months then put it on the shelf. Maybe they boot it back up (and pay $10 again) when the DLC adds Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta or whatever.

2XKO was never a game that could make money from casuals, because there was no reason for anyone except "fgc mechanics heads" to give a single shit about the game. And those fgc heads saw a 2v2 tag fighter with ten characters and responded with a resounding "lmao". Doesn't help that it's a fighting game with kernel anticheat.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

A game like DBFZ can reach more than 10 million players even with a price barrier, so I can see the rationale for free to play. Personally, I think free to play is a horrible gamble for just about any game these days, regardless of genre, but only 10 characters and an enormous grind to unlock more, I would agree, was a death sentence for this game. Even if they launched with 20 characters, they were never going to get new ones out in this genre with a cadence that resembled League of Legends. And yeah, while the mechanics borrow heavily from some of my least favorite fighting games, they also told me to straight up not bother with it by way of anti-cheat.

[–] pory@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Well that's what I mean tho. If DBFZ reaches a million players in year 1, Bamco gets sixty million dollars (pre taxes and fees and licensing yadda yadda). If 2XKO reaches a million players, Riot gets zero dollars unless you also got some of that million to buy hats. A guy who buys DBFZ and plays for a week before dropping it got you sixty bucks. Same dude in 2XKO that doesn't buy a $20 hat gets you zilch.

[–] missingno@fedia.io 3 points 2 days ago

Everything is relative. The FGC is 'small' relative to the likes of League or Valorant, and Riot seems to truly expect that every project should be as popular as those or else they'll pull the plug.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

I mean, the hope is for something new; to be that one that creates a genre boom. I’m sure Among Us wasn’t the first party deception game.

I’m guessing at least some of the planning just came from developers who are fighting game fans that want to see a success there, rather than business planners.

But you’re also right that a lot of the audience has zero patience for trying a game where two characters face off with a big life bar in three rounds. Hundreds of thousands have been promised “It’s good for beginners now!” and had that promise broken with motion inputs and skill gaps.

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 18 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Imagine putting millions of dollars and years of development into a game just to shut it down because it doesn't take off immediately.

The horseshits execs that made this decision should be beat up.

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I'm torn with considering this premature.. I think about games like multiversus that didn't find their footing, got shut down for a year to rebuild and rework the systems, then failed it's second release too. In that regard, I sort of appreciate they're failing it fast.

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

To death, you say?

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 2 points 3 days ago

Funfact, I wrote "beaten to death" before but wasn't sure if overzealous mods ban me for it lmaoo

[–] Einhornyordle@feddit.org 19 points 3 days ago

Shame, I would've loved to try it out but since it doesn't run on linux I never could. I bet it would've been great on steam deck too.

[–] missingno@fedia.io 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Still thinking back to when this was first announced and people were hyping it up like the mere presence of Riot's money was going to result in Project L completely dominating the entire rest of the FGC combined by an order of magnitude. I knew from the start that it would never live up to such unrealistic expectations.

From what I've heard, it doesn't sound like the game even did that badly, I wish some of my other favorite games had as healthy of a playerbase. But we're in this weird world where some games are perfectly comfortable with whatever audience they get and others have to pull the plug ASAP if they don't hit Fortnite-sized numbers overnight.

They just needed to have realistic expectations and they could've been fine with what they have.

[–] Laser@feddit.org 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The hope wasn't that the game would dominate the existing FGC, but that the IP would have such a massive pull that it would expand the FGC so much (and in the longer term, make the players be l branch into other games in the genre).

I don't know what Riot expected, the genre is niche and from what I've heard, the game wasn't very accessible in the first place, basically trading old hard stuff against new one (not that me being on Linux could have tried it myself), so yeah. My league friends didn't even try it

And say what you want about SNK and their Saudi money, there's a lot of valid criticism, but CotW is probably the best-supported and fairest game currently out.

Fuck the Saudis and Ronaldo though

[–] missingno@fedia.io 1 points 2 days ago

The hope wasn't that the game would dominate the existing FGC, but that the IP would have such a massive pull that it would expand the FGC so much (and in the longer term, make the players be l branch into other games in the genre).

And even ten years ago I thought that was delusional.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

They could have been phenomenally successful if they released a game with rollback back when there were almost none. Then 2021 came along and rollback fighters are basically all that exist anymore.

[–] skrlet13@feddit.cl 6 points 3 days ago

That was short

[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 3 points 3 days ago

who would have thought league players wouldn't be interested in a game genre that actually requires skill

[–] _Lory98_@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I wasn't interested in the game as I don't like tag fighters (not that I could have played it with Vanguard), but it's a shame to see so much effort being wasted, especially with how long development was. I'm glad they are keeping it playable.

[–] artwork@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I haven't explore this title nor I had an idea it exists, am sorry, but what I found on socials is quite... sorrowful... Included some below...

The work on the characters is quite significant, or frankly, freaking marvelous, too...
For example, the art for Jinx found: Jinx - Wiki (With an arsenal of custom guns, traps, and explosives...)

The new upcoming character, Lux... is no words... so ineffably magnificent...

Lux
Source

I've been dreaming of a game like this since I first played league of legends back in middle school and when it was announced they were making a fighting game I was so excited and we waited so long and finally got it in our hands and I enjoyed playing with my duo so much. Just for it to die not even a FULL YEAR after full release... nothing short of devastated, disappointment, grief and anger are the only emotions I can think on. I was so excited to see more champions. Ones that would be perfect for this game. Now it will never happen. If you wanna truly make this right riot, I would hope you let the modding community be able to work on the game

Source

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Bro i waited 5 years for this game ever since they announced it, played every beta and alpha and been playing since release, bro please don’t do this i love this game, i love fighting games so much but this one has been the one i’m best at i’ve been having so much fun with my friends and enjoyed the game a lot and i know a lot of people do too, so why stop development when there is still many people playing it and the events are getting pretty good attendence, i hope they rethink their decision or continue development in some way

Source

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They expected the same return as TFT and LoL when a fighting game isn't very profitable because the genre have a small player base. I think they should have released a lot of more characters. It's a little sad. I just don't know what to do now. I'm devastated... I had a lot of fun. The feeling of when you improve is so satisfying or when you finally learn and land a new combo. It was my first fighting game

Source

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

What? Weird, I had a mild interested in this game and didn't know it ever came out. Damn, feels bad but I guess happy I didn't get invested into it.

[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 2 points 3 days ago

Pretty wild to see considering how many years the game was in development and some of the names behind it.

[–] raze2012@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Pretty much western development studios in a nutshell, sadly. Try to go for a model that maximizes engagement and hope the mass monetization comes from various forms of MTX. But lootboxes can't be used anymore, so you're stuck focusing on skins. But skins are still expensive to produce and can't be put out fast (which is how mobile games get away with that).

So there's big numbers in the beginning but not enough money coming in to justify the expensive production. Executives don't let it cook on the market long enough and just shut it down early. Even though by all other metrics, it was a good game with potential to foster a new franchise/sub-franchise. No one wins. Its Multiversus all over again.