In a surprising move less than a month following the release of its free-to-play 2v2 tag-team fighting title 2XKO, Riot Games has announced a reduction in the game's development team. Producer Tom Cannon described the decision as "difficult to share," noting that while the game has cultivated a "passionate core audience," it "hasn't reached the level needed to support a team of this size long term."
Cannon elaborated on the studio's revised approach, stating, "With a smaller, focused team, we’re going to dig in and make key improvements to the game, including some of the things we’ve already heard you asking for. We’ll share some of our plans soon." He reassured the community that plans for the 2026 Competitive Series remain unchanged, with Riot continuing its commitment to partnering with tournament organizers and local communities to support the fighting game community.
Acknowledging the team's dedication, Cannon emphasized, "The team that built 2XKO poured years of creativity, care, and belief into this game. Taking creative risks like this is hard, and the work they did is real and meaningful." For affected employees, Riot is offering support through the transition, including opportunities to explore other roles within the company where possible, along with a minimum of six months' notice pay and severance where internal placement isn't feasible.
Cannon concluded by promising more details in the future and thanking players for their engagement with 2XKO and for "caring enough to ask hard questions." Riot confirmed to IGN that the layoffs impact roughly 80 positions globally, which constitutes less than half of the total development team. These numbers are not final, as some staff may transition to other roles within the company.
IGN rated 2XKO an 8/10 in its review, praising it as 'Great' and noting, "2XKO has found a way to distill what's fun about tag fighters while mitigating a lot of the pain points that typically come with the territory." The game was originally announced at The Game Awards 2025.
