Riot is cutting the 2XKO team, with around 80 layoffs

Riot Games is shrinking the team behind 2XKO, a move that will lay off roughly 80 people. The news comes via a Riot blog post from executive producer Tom Cannon.

According to Cannon, the studio expanded development as it pushed from PC to console, but player engagement trends haven’t built enough momentum to justify keeping a team that large long-term. Riot says the game has a “passionate core audience,” but not the broader traction it needs to support the current headcount.

A Riot spokesperson also told Game Developer that nearly half of 2XKO’s global development team is affected.

Riot says it’ll try to help impacted staff find other roles inside the company where possible, and that affected employees will receive at least six months of notice and severance pay.

2XKO is Riot’s free-to-play fighting game. The source notes it hit early access on PC in October 2025, followed by a console release on January 20, 2026. Development on the project dates back to 2019, when it was first revealed under the codename Project L.