adminThe 2XKO player base would have needed to reach the high hundreds of thousands of monthly active users, and potentially millions, to support the game as a live service. Riot Games CPO Marc Merrill said the fighting game found an audience, but not one large enough to sustain its operating model.
Image credit: Riot Games
Why the 2XKO player base needed to be larger
Speaking on a podcast, Merrill explained that 2XKO connected with some players, but its audience was "not nearly enough" for the game’s planned live-service approach. Monthly active users, or MAU, refers to the number of people who play a game at least once during a given month. For a live-service title, that measure can help show whether there are enough regular players to support ongoing operations and updates.
Riot ended active development on 2XKO in August. Merrill said running the game cost substantially more than it generated, while player engagement remained relatively flat even after larger updates. This illustrates why an active community alone may not be sufficient: a live-service game also needs sustained engagement at a scale that can support its costs.
Players can still download and play 2XKO for free on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Its servers are expected to remain online beyond 2026. Since active development has ended, players should distinguish between continued access to the game and the arrival of new content or major updates.
Street Fighter 6 affected 2XKO’s timing
Merrill also pointed to the timing of 2XKO’s release as a challenge. Riot had been working on the project for years when Street Fighter 6 arrived, roughly eight years after development on 2XKO began. Merrill suggested that launching several years earlier might have allowed the game to make a more significant contribution to the fighting game community.
Despite the outcome, he praised the development team for creating a polished game and said Riot chose to release it after communicating its plans to players. The practical takeaway for fighting-game fans is that 2XKO remains playable, but its development status means expectations for future support should be measured.
How Rising Thunder influenced 2XKO
Riot’s 2016 acquisition of Radiant Entertainment also shaped the project. The studio’s free-to-play fighting game Rising Thunder entered alpha in 2015 and served as an important inspiration for 2XKO. Riot later removed Rising Thunder from storefronts, cancelled it, and released it as open-source software a year afterward.
Merrill described the idea behind 2XKO as combining Rising Thunder’s straightforward controls and one-on-one fighting concept with League of Legends characters and a competitive ecosystem built in Riot’s style. The project’s development was also affected by leadership changes. Merrill said the company lacked alignment on strategy, which led to management disagreements, and accepted responsibility for those decisions.
What the 2XKO player base story means
2XKO’s case highlights the scale of audience a live-service fighting game may need to remain financially sustainable, as well as the importance of timing and consistent strategic direction. The game remains available on its announced platforms, but Riot’s comments make clear that its 2XKO player base did not reach the level the company believed was necessary for ongoing active development.
