We have seen plenty of industry belt tightening lately, but this one feels particularly heavy. After nearly ten years in development, the highly anticipated fighting game from Riot Games has hit a massive wall. Just twenty days after its official console launch, we are looking at a fresh round of Riot Games layoffs that have essentially cut the 2XKO development team in half.
It is a move that has left the fighting game community (FGC) in a bit of a tailspin. We are talking about a project that started all the way back in 2016 when Riot acquired Radiant Entertainment. This wasn’t just another game; it was meant to be the definitive “easy to learn, hard to master” fighter that brought the massive League of Legends audience into the FGC. But despite an 8/10 review score from several outlets and a solid early access period on PC, the momentum apparently stalled out the moment it hit the broader console market.
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The math behind the momentum
When you hear that a company is letting go of roughly 80 people, it is usually a sign of a major strategic shift. In a candid blog post, executive producer Tom Cannon explained that while the game has found a “passionate core audience,” the overall engagement hasn’t reached the heights necessary to sustain a team of this size. This is corporate speak for “not enough people are playing, and even fewer are spending money on skins.”
The game officially launched on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on January 20, 2026. While the initial buzz was high, the transition from a niche PC audience to the general console public seems to have revealed some uncomfortable truths. If the “momentum” isn’t there, Riot clearly feels that a smaller, leaner team is the only way to keep the lights on for the long haul. It is a pivot toward sustainability, but it comes at a very high human cost for those who spent years of their lives building this world.
2xko news feels awful to hear
Loved that riot was getting into fighting games and to hear layoffs 2 weeks after the launch just looks bad
— DSG scarra (@scarra) February 9, 2026
What happens to the people behind the code?
The reality of these Riot Games layoffs is heartbreaking when you look at the individual stories. We are seeing reports of developers who had been with Riot for over a decade finding out they were out of a job with only 30 minutes of notice. One high profile departure includes Patrick Miller, a long time producer and a pillar of the fighting game community, who had dedicated ten years specifically to the 2XKO project.
To their credit, Riot is offering what they call a “minimum of 6 months” of notice pay and severance for those who can’t find other roles within the company. In an industry where people are often shown the door with nothing but a “good luck,” that is a decent safety net. However, for a team that literally defined the soul of the game, being cut less than a month after the “big win” of a console launch feels like a slap in the face.
A pattern of “refocusing” at Riot
If this story sounds familiar, it is because we have been here before. These Riot Games layoffs are the latest chapter in a multi year “refocusing” effort that started in 2024. Back then, Riot closed its Riot Forge program and laid off over 500 people, with CEO Dylan Jadeja admitting the company had made too many “big bets” that weren’t paying off.
2XKO was one of those big bets. It represents a massive creative risk: a 2v2 tag team fighter that is free to play. While it is technically a masterpiece of accessibility, the fighting game market is notoriously difficult to break into. Most players already have “their” game, and convincing them to leave a ten year legacy in another title for a new Riot fighter is a Herculean task. These cuts suggest that Riot is no longer willing to throw unlimited resources at a project that isn’t showing immediate, explosive growth.
