Riot Games is laying off about 80 people from its 2XKO team. This is nearly half of the game’s global developers. The free-to-play fighting game isn’t getting enough players to keep such a big team going long-term.
Tom Cannon, the executive producer, explained this in a blog post. He said the game has a loyal group of fans. But overall, player interest hasn’t grown enough. This showed up when the game moved from PC to consoles.
https://x.com/HUN2R/status/2020945051413578200
A Riot spokesperson told Game Developer that almost half the team is affected.
Cannon stressed this is about making the team smaller and smarter, not ending the game. “This isn’t a judgment on individual employees or a signal that the journey is over,” he wrote. “We’re reshaping the team to give 2XKO a more sustainable path forward.” It’s a change in how they work.
Riot is helping those laid off. They get at least six months’ notice and severance pay. The company will also try to find them other jobs inside Riot.
2XKO came out in early access on PC in October 2025. It hit consoles on January 20, 2026. The project started in 2019 as “Project L.” It was meant to be a fighting game based on League of Legends characters. Riot wanted it to compete with hits like Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Street Fighter.
Public reactions on (X) Twitter to this news reveal disappointment, criticism, and a sense of inevitability.
It was questioned by one user why layoffs were necessary at Riot Games, with the argument that employees could have been reassigned to stable and ongoing projects like Valorant or League of Legends, showing frustration with management decisions.
https://x.com/GeminiJack11/status/2020959442020467052
Another user claimed the outcome was predictable, suggesting that a free-to-play fighting game failed because it did not generate the expected revenue.
https://x.com/_Luckyjust1y/status/2020976648125022573
A third user expressed personal disappointment, saying they were initially excited but felt the game lacked the features which make it original, describing it as a poor clone of Marvel vs. Capcom. This user concluded that the game’s failure was not surprising.
https://x.com/PaulyHype/status/2020966324009349254
Player trends during the console launch weren’t strong enough. That’s why Riot is slimming down the team now. This news shows tough times in gaming. Many companies are cutting staff when games don’t hit big player numbers fast. 2XKO still has fans, and Riot plans to keep improving it with a leaner group.
