Riot Sunsets 2XKO, Ending Active Development in December 2026

Servers will stay online beyond 2026 and the game will remain playable on all platforms.

Through the rest of 2026, Riot will release content already in progress, including two final champions: Lux in patch 1.3.1 on September 8, 2026, and Samira in an October patch that will be the game’s last major content drop. An optional December patch, if needed, will be limited to bug fixes. After that, Riot says servers will remain on to support online play, offline play is unaffected, and the company will give advance notice if that changes.

Purchases of KO Points, the game’s premium currency, are disabled as of the announcement date.

Refunds, the $39.99 Bundle, and What Gets Removed in September

Alongside the Lux release, Riot is adding the 2XKO Ultimate Bundle, a single purchase containing all skins, skin chromas, and taunts for every champion up to and including Lux, plus all currently released finishers. The bundle will be updated in October to include all remaining cosmetics, with existing owners receiving the added items automatically.

At the same time, Riot is removing Battle Passes, KO Points, Champion Tokens, seasons, and events. Ranked lobbies will be disabled so matchmaking runs through a single Casual pool per server, still skill-based, with private lobbies unaffected. Private lobbies will gain voice chat and a large map supporting up to 40 players. Avatar items, select champion chromas, stages, and player profile items will become unlockable with Credits, the earned in-game currency, and the Credits cap of 12,000 will be removed. All content players already own stays with them.

On refunds, Riot said PC players who bought KO Points or the 2XKO Starter Edition before August 20, 2026 will be refunded to the original payment method, with most refunds distributed within two weeks and all PC refunds targeted for completion by November 2026. PlayStation and Xbox players will be refunded through the platform used to purchase, and those platform support teams may contact players to confirm payment details. Players on the Japan and Korea servers will go through a separate refund process conducted in compliance with local law, with details to follow in later notices. Physical prepaid cards no longer work in 2XKO but remain usable for currencies in Riot’s other games.

Why Riot Pulled the Plug

In its announcement, Riot said it evaluated 2XKO on retention, new players, and engagement through 2026, not revenue alone. The company pointed to positive reactions around the releases of Akali, Senna, Thresh, and The Climb, the game’s PVE mode, along with competitive events through the year, but said none of those moments produced “meaningful, sustained change” in the game’s trajectory.

Riot said it weighed reducing the team further, adjusting patch schedules, and changing the business model before concluding that finishing its work-in-progress content and sunsetting active development was the best route. The free-to-play model, the company noted, carried a minimum player requirement from the start, and while tag-fighter players embraced the game, most other fighting game players did not stick with it long enough to build a path toward sustainability.

The Story So Far

2XKO began life as Project L, a codename Riot carried for years before giving the game its official title in February 2024. The first at-home playtest, Alpha Lab, ran in August 2024, and a second followed before the PC closed beta opened on September 9, 2025, with Riot committing to keep the game online from that point. The official launch arrived on January 20, 2026, when Season 1 began and the game went live on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S alongside PC, adding new champion Caitlyn.

The launch did not hold. Impacted staff were promised a minimum of six months of notice pay and severance, and Riot said the smaller team would focus on key improvements. The August 20, 2026 announcement closes out that trajectory: the reduced team ships its remaining work in 2026, then active development stops.

For Riot, the sunset marks the first of its post-League of Legends genre expansions to be wound down. The company has spent the past several years pushing beyond its flagship MOBA into tactical shooters, card games, and fighting games, and 2XKO was its most direct attempt to convert the League champion roster into a second competitive genre with its own esports circuit.

What Happens Next for 2XKO Players and the Competitive Scene

The 2XKO Competitive Series runs unchanged through 2026, with prizing for all Major and Challenger events intact, and the final event takes place in November 2026. After 2026, tournament organizers can keep running 2XKO events, online or offline, under Riot’s Community Competition Guidelines.

The game itself stays available as a free download on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S after December 2026. Riot said it will hold conversations with community leaders over the coming weeks about what more it can do for players, tournament organizers, competitors, and creators, and noted it may adjust dates and communications as it goes. The company’s closing note points back to its R&D pipeline, saying it will take time to learn from 2XKO before its next swing at a new genre.