Riot Games has announced a significant reduction in the development team for its 2v2 fighting game, 2XKO, laying off approximately 80 employees—nearly half of the total staff—less than three weeks after the game’s official 1.0 launch.
Struggling Momentum Triggers Workforce Reduction
Executive producer Tom Cannon addressed the layoffs in a statement today, noting that while the game has garnered a dedicated core following, the broader player engagement has failed to meet expectations. “As we expanded from PC to console, we saw consistent trends in how players were engaging with 2XKO,” Cannon wrote. “The game has resonated with a passionate core audience, but overall momentum hasn’t reached the level needed to support a team of this size long term.”
Despite the drastic cuts, Riot emphasized that the remaining, more focused team will prioritize key gameplay improvements based on community feedback. The company confirmed that plans for the 2XKO 2026 Competitive Series remain unaffected by these internal changes.
A Pattern of Strategic Refocusing
This decision appears to be the latest phase in Riot’s ongoing corporate restructuring, which began two years ago with the closure of the Riot Forge program and the layoff of 530 employees. At that time, CEO Dylan Jadeja stated that the studio was pivoting away from various “big bets” to concentrate on “fewer, high-impact projects.”
Additional layoffs occurred in October 2024, though Riot leadership has simultaneously signaled future growth for the *League of Legends* development team. Executives Paul “Pabro” Bellezza and Andrei “Meddler” van Roon recently teased that the studio is working on significant, large-scale updates for the flagship title.
A Decade of Development Meets an Uncertain Future
The sudden downsizing is particularly striking given the project’s long history. 2XKO spent nearly a decade in the pipeline, with rumors of its existence dating back to Riot’s 2016 acquisition of Radiant Entertainment, followed by an official announcement in 2019.
Following a closed beta, the game entered early access in October 2025 and officially launched on January 20. While the absence of the title on Steam makes official player counts difficult to verify, the decision to slash the development team by 50% just 20 days after the 1.0 release suggests that performance metrics have fallen well short of the studio’s internal targets. Riot has promised to share further details regarding the game’s future roadmap shortly.
