Riot Games will finish active development of its free-to-play preventing sport 2XKO in December.
Servers will stay on-line “past 2026”, and offline play won’t be affected. 2XKO will keep playable and free to obtain on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Sequence X|S.
After reviewing 2XKO’s efficiency, Riot said it would have “continued active development if [it] noticed any viable future,” however the sport costs “considerably more to operate than it brings in, and engagement has stayed comparatively flat regardless of bigger updates.”
Though new characters, gameplay, and aggressive occasions obtained optimistic suggestions, Riot noticed “no significant, sustained change in 2XKO’s trajectory.”
“Over time it turned clear it could be not possible for us to proceed actively growing the sport as we’re as we speak,” the developer defined.
“Once we checked out all of the choices out there (e.g., lowering staff dimension, adjusting our patch schedules, altering our enterprise mannequin), we concluded that ending the remainder of our work-in-progress content material and sunsetting active development was the very best route ahead for gamers and Rioters.”
“Over time it turned clear it could be not possible for us to proceed actively growing the sport as we’re as we speak”
Three further patches are deliberate earlier than active development concludes in December.
Modifications to 2XKO started on August 20, when buying in-game forex KO Factors was disabled. Remaining KO Factors can be utilized within the rotating retailer till patch 1.3.1 releases on September 8.
Riot has additionally begun refunding all purchases made on or earlier than August 20.
For PC gamers, all KO Factors and 2XKO Starter Version purchases will probably be refunded to the unique fee methodology. Riot expects to full most refunds inside two weeks and the remainder by November 2026.
Console gamers will obtain refunds by the platform and supplier used for his or her purchases.
As for gamers on Japan or Korea servers, Riot will “conduct the refund course of for KO Factors in compliance with native legislation.”
The September patch (1.3.1) will unlock most gameplay content material, together with all champion characters.
A bundle containing most of 2XKO’s beauty content material will probably be out there for $39.99/£33.99/€39.99. Riot may even make some gadgets out there for Credit and can take away Battle Passes, KO Factors, Champion Tokens, seasons, and occasions to assist the long-term on-line expertise.
Ranked lobbies will probably be eliminated, and matchmaking in Informal lobbies will probably be streamlined. Non-public lobbies will keep unchanged and will probably be up to date to embody voice chat and a big map supporting up to 40 gamers.
The October 1.3.3 patch will introduce the ultimate champion, Samira. Riot will replace the 2XKO Final Bundle to embody all remaining skins and cosmetics. This would be the sport’s last main content material patch.
Patch 1.3.5, scheduled for December, will focus primarily on bug fixes and won’t introduce new content material.
“There isn’t any good approach to deal with a choice like this,” mentioned Riot. “As 2026 continues, we’ll be determining what more we will do for gamers, match organisers, opponents, and creators which have constantly proven up for the preventing sport group by 2XKO.”
“Finally, we’re happy with the sport this staff constructed. We’re grateful to everybody who made the sport what it is as we speak, and we’re trying ahead to the remainder of this 12 months’s […] we could make some changes to dates and comms as we go.”
Riot concluded: “For now, we’re targeted on leaving 2XKO in a terrific spot. Then, we’ll head again into the R&D lab, the place we’ll take time to be taught and work on how we come again stronger for the subsequent swing on the subsequent style.”
Earlier this 12 months, Riot diminished the 2XKO development staff by 80 positions.
On the time, 2XKO’s government producer Tom Cannon mentioned the sport was not reaching “the extent wanted to assist a staff of [that] dimension in the long run.”