Riot Winding Down 2XKO by December 2026

Riot is winding down 2XKO and refunding several in game purchases.

The game seemed to target the audiences of games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Full launch was January 2026 after a late-2025 PC early access. On August 20, 2026, Riot said active development ends in December 2026. Not even a year after launch.

Why would they give up so quickly?

Not enough players stuck around. Revenue, retention, and engagement were “only a fraction” of what they’d need to keep a live team on it. Riot said “the game costs substantially more to run than it brings in, and big updates didn’t change the curve.” They’d already substantially cut the team earlier in the year.

All KO points and Starter Edition purchases in 2XKO on or before August 20 are being refunded. You keep the content you already own.

PC: back to the original payment method. Most in about two weeks, all targeted by November 2026.
PlayStation & Xbox: Sony/Microsoft will process the refunds. I personally have already received my notification!

KO Point purchases were turned off August 20. Leftover points can still be spent in the rotating shop until patch 1.3.1. Prepaid Riot cards no longer work in 2XKO. Refund emails already started going out.

Riot is removing the paywall for some in-game items:

Every champion will be unlocked
Most cosmetics will be bundled
A $39.99 Ultimate Bundle for almost all remaining cosmetics
Avatar/profile stuff becomes unlockable with in-game Credits in 1.3.1 (September)

Ranked is going away. Casual matchmaking will operate as normal. Servers will stay up beyond 2026 but will no longer have an active team or updates. Offline play is unaffected. The game remains free to download on PC, PS5, and Xbox.

Riot is under a delusion that every game is going to end up being as successful as League of Legends. The chances of another game hitting the same for their audience are slim. I will admit that I was one of the people who fell out of playing the game quickly after I started. It lacked complexity and nuance that Street Fighter has.

Hopefully this trend doesn’t hold for Riot’s future endeavors.