I have never been a fan of 2XKO. I made that clear in my recent conversation with a colleague about 2XKO survival. Hint: I said it won’t be past 2027. However, this was based on Riot’s abandonment of the game’s launch and marketing plan, as well as a decrease in the number of players and viewers.
After attending Evo Vegas 2026, I have a different opinion. I’m not taking back anything I’ve said about the game: I still don’t think it’s going to retain a casual player base. But I think it can survive as an esport.
2XKO will not succeed as a match
Ever since I played the demo of Riot’s 2v2 fighter at Evo Vegas 2025, I believe the game felt terrible. As the developers themselves admitted, the game was overly complicated. When you’re new to the game without much of a competitive background, you basically feel like you’re just wandering around and nothing you do leads to anything meaningful. That can be very frustrating. And it’s boring.
Many fighting games have realized the importance of bringing in new players. Street Fighter 6 introduced Modern Controls that require fewer inputs, and Episode 8 you have Special Style for simplified combos. These items allow new players to create less frustrating mashing and more impactful and satisfying moves.
“Fighting sports require command input. You have to do it at the right time and at the right speed. That takes a lot of muscle memory, of course, quick reaction, quick planning. That’s something you develop as a skill. It’s not something you get out of the gate,” Fatal Fury: City of Wolves producer Shinya Tamaki told me at Evo Vegas when I asked why fighting games are more focused on new players compared to games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2.
However, 2XKO doesn’t really have that. The development team behind 2XKO is full of highly engaged and OG professionals who have been in the scene for a long time. While this made the game sound promising, it actually turned out to be one of its flaws: the game was heavily geared towards players who could already play.
2XKO doesn’t have the broad appeal that Riot was hoping for. The company admitted as much in February 2026, when it said the game “hasn’t reached the level” needed for the team to stay together. This was followed by a massive round of layoffs. From the beginning, Riot wanted 2XKO to break the conventional standards of a fighting game and achieve mainstream appeal, even relying on expensive skins like it did in other titles.
But it quickly learned that having a League of Legends champion on the roster wasn’t enough to do that. It’s a fighting game, and a complicated one at that.
I’m still very confident that 2XKO won’t really grow, especially since other fighting games come out with rosters with multiple characters that are very easy to play and offer a fluid fighting style. Invincible VS and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls are both great for beginners while still offering creative, high-IQ gameplay.
However, I don’t think 2XKO is completely dead anymore.
2XKO will continue to operate as an esport
Previously, I argued that 2XKO would be dead because the number of players continues to decline. I am not saying that the number of players is bad. However, I think 2XKO will not die; it will live on as an esport. People don’t play, but they play to watch.
When I went to Evo Vegas 2026, I said my main goal was to watch the 2XKO Top 8. It was the first time that 2XKO was put on the Main Stage at Evo, which is a big deal (even if Evo loses the honor). I wanted to see what it was like as an esport. It was only fair.
And OMG, it was amazing.
Although the game is a little hard for those of us who don’t want to grind 2XKO and just want to have fun, that’s high quality gameplay complete for esport. Watching the top players use all the champions as best they could – finding the right position in neutral, countering incoming attacks, pulling off crazy combos – was very satisfying and fun. 2XKO takes a lot of mental energy, and you can see players learning from their opponents in real time, finding and correcting their mistakes.
Then there is the 2v2 aspect. I still don’t think this is a game changer for casual players, but it’s great to see it on stage as an esport. 2XKO Top 8 features two powerful duos and six solo players, making for the most exciting battles you won’t see in Street Fighter or Tekken.
“Of course I watch VODs and their practices,” the winner Josiah “Hikari” Miller he said of his preparation to take on the duos. “They’re two different people, so two different opinions. It’s really difficult.”
You have other players throwing two champions while counting the moves of two opponents. Then you have other players who seem to be on the same wavelength, alternating in and out of each other like a dance. It makes for a fun and powerful watch.
And then there’s the news. Dominique “SonicFox” McLean again Lenwood “Inzem” Arnold they are an unstoppable force, with SonicFox owning eight Evos that have won multiple titles. Then you have the Japanese twins, who seem to read each other’s minds. There is also it’s bleedingthe teenager known as the “online hero” until he hosted a few big shows this year. William “Leffen” Hjelte is a Super Smash Bros. player. Melee has been one of SonicFox’s rivals.
What has made 2XKO such an interesting esports scene is timing. It came out just before Frosty Faustings, and many experts from other scenes wanted to try it. They thought, “Why? This brought in many veteran players from various sports, creating a built-in esports environment for 2XKO full of well-known professionals.
It’s hard for new players to come in now. Most of the brackets are filled with these players, who have been grinding since the beginning. But it does make for some amazing Top 8s. The fans are crazy, the news is breaking, the game is mind blowing.
So… I’ll admit I was wrong. 2XKO won’t be as big a match as Riot wants it to be. It won’t always be popular in FGC, though. However, I think it will continue as an esport if it can maintain the hype. And I hope it does, because that was an amazing experience.
