Less than a month after the launch of its free-to-play 2v2 tag-team preventing sport, 2XKO, Riot Games is scaling again its growth workforce.
Admitting the information was “tough to share,” producer Tom Cannon said that regardless of securing a “passionate core viewers,” the brand new sport “hasn’t reached the extent wanted to help a workforce of this dimension long run.”
“With a smaller, centered workforce, we’re going to dig in and make key enhancements to the sport, together with among the issues we’ve already heard you asking for. We’ll share a few of our plans quickly,” Cannon added. “Our plans for the 2026 Aggressive Sequence are unchanged. We stay dedicated to partnering with event organizers and native communities. Our focus will proceed to be on supporting the occasions and organizers that already energy the [fighting game community].”
Cannon harassed that the workforce that constructed 2XKO “poured years of creativity, care, and perception into this sport. Taking inventive dangers like that is arduous, and the work they did is actual and significant.”
“We’re dedicated to supporting impacted Rioters by this transition — together with serving to them discover alternatives inside Riot the place attainable, and offering a minimal of 6 months of discover pay and severance the place it’s not,” he defined.
Cannon closed on promising extra data would are available time, and thanked gamers for enjoying 2XKO and “caring sufficient to ask arduous questions.”
Riot has additionally confirmed to IGN that the cuts will have an effect on roughly 80 roles globally, representing lower than half of the entire workforce. Figures should not ultimate, nevertheless, as some employees might discover roles elsewhere inside the firm.
IGN thought 2XKO was ‘Nice.’ It returned an 8/10 in our assessment through which we wrote: “2XKO has discovered a technique to distill what’s enjoyable about tag fighters whereas mitigating a lot of the ache factors that usually include the territory.” It was introduced again in The Recreation Awards 2025.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and guide with 15+ years expertise working with among the world’s greatest gaming websites and publications. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.