Riot Games has officially announced that it will cease active development of its free-to-play fighting game 2XKO at the end of 2026. The decision was taken due to insufficient levels of audience retention, which made further support for the project unprofitable.
The team considered alternatives, including layoffs, changing release schedules, and rethinking the entire business model, but ultimately decided to just finish what was already in production. The developer stresses that this is not an immediate shutdown of the game: servers will continue to run and 2XKO will continue to be available for download on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Local multiplayer will also work normally.
Due to the end of active support, the company has initiated a refund process for all items purchased by players before August 20. Purchases of the in-game currency KO Points have been frozen and the remaining funds in your account can be used before the September update is released. Patch 1.3.1, scheduled for release on September 8, will add the heroine Lux to the game, automatically unlock all existing characters for all users, and completely remove the battle pass, seasons, in-game events, and premium currency. At the same time, ranked matches will be removed from the fighting game in order to unite the remaining viewers in public lobbies and speed up the search for opponents. Meanwhile, casual matchmaking will still take players’ skill levels into account, and private lobbies will get voice chat support, larger maps, and the ability to host up to 40 participants.
Instead of the usual monetization methods, the developers will offer a $40 Ultimate Bundle, which will include nearly all existing cosmetic content: skins, color variations, taunts, and finishing moves. The remaining items, such as avatars and profile designs, can be purchased with base points and their restrictions will be removed.
In October, with patch 1.3.3, Samira will be added to the roster – she will be the last playable 2XKO character. A small technical patch may be released in December to correct the bug, and no large-scale content updates are expected after that. The official eSports series 2XKO Competitive Series will continue to operate with the same format and the same prize pool, with its finals taking place in November 2026.
