2XKO would have needed an MAU base “in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions” to succeed
Riot Games has officially ended active development on 2XKO, its ambitious fighting game project, after determining it was unsustainable as a live service title. According to Riot co-founder and Chief Product Officer Marc Merrill, the game would have required monthly active user numbers “in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions” to justify continued operation.
Speaking on The Lemonade Stand podcast, Merrill acknowledged that while 2XKO “resonated with some players,” the player base never reached the scale necessary to support the game’s intended live service model. The developer found that operational costs substantially exceeded revenue, while player engagement remained flat, making continuation financially untenable.
Merrill reflected on the broader challenges facing the project, noting that Riot had a promising window to contribute meaningfully to the fighting game community. However, the landscape shifted significantly when Capcom released Street Fighter 6 in 2024—eight years after Riot began developing 2XKO. Despite the game’s beautiful design and the talented development team’s strong work, the competitive market environment ultimately proved insurmountable.