“I Quit My Job to Play This Game” — FGC Reacts to The Death of 2XKO

The fighting game community (FGC) is furious as Riot Games has ended support for League of Legends fighter 2XKO after just one year.

Riot announced that 2XKO’s development will end in December 2026, though the servers will remain online.

And 2XKO will still be updated with Lux and Samira set to be added later this year.

Now, FGC fans have had their say on social media after the very swift end of the fighting game.

Diehard 2XKO Fans Left Devastated

While not around for long, 2XKO had garnered a dedicated playerbase who were hit hardest by the news.

One esports commentator who got 2XKO tattooed on his hand was the butt of a lot of jokes, but maintained his commitment to the game.

I’ll get roasted for this for sure, but I’m still happy I did this. 2X is so special, and it created many genuine friendships I will carry on for years to come. Gave me a new passion to pursue, and helped me through some dark times.

Long live 2XKO. https://t.co/RT9vIkARaM

— ONi | Nitten 🔜 UMAD 26 (@TheNitten) August 20, 2026

Another player spoke of quitting their job to compete in the game and couldn’t hold back his disappointment and fears for the future of fighting games.

Diaphone got EMOTIONAL after Riot announced the end of 2XKO’s development and revealed he quit his job for the game 😔

“I knew the future wasn’t bright.. It legitimately makes me sad, I know it sounds stupid.. But, I did quit my job to play this game.” pic.twitter.com/IQjNwMCIiU

— bloom 𖧧 (@bloomjpg) August 20, 2026

Faith in Riot Vanishes

After yet another failed project, a lot of gamers’ faith in Riot Games has diminished.

Fans joked that the timing of Ahri being added to Fortnite is a bit too coincidental.

As fans have pointed out, Riot also shut down its digital card game Legends of Runeterra and its Indie games division, Riot Forge, much too soon.

Comment tu veux faire confiance à Riot après ça et Riot Forge ?

Si le nouveau projet n’a pas le succès de LoL c’est cancel.
Heartsteel ? cancel parce que ça fait moins que K/DA
Si le mmo fait pas les chiffres d’FF14 vous allez cancel aussi ??

Franchement c’est tellement naze https://t.co/TJxaV0JMFz

— Alex Lockheart (@AlexLockheart) August 20, 2026

between this, LoR, and Rior Forge. it completely killed any interest i have in further riot products and the lol universe. whats the point in getting invested in anything if theyre just gonna keep killing everything thats not league or tft. If that mmo bombs Riot is SCREWED

— Rozé (@Rozeaye_) August 20, 2026

And that has left fans wondering, does the League of Legends MMO currently being worked on stand a chance?

The MMO is gonna get shut down 2 days after launch because they didn’t make one luxilion dollars in half an hour, actual joke of a company genuinely fire every single executive https://t.co/BoK4pQaO23

— Valen!! (@shitelorr) August 20, 2026

Meet potential videogame company!

– Their biggest game is a copy-paste of DOTA
– Valorant was hard-carried by Covid
– LoR is dead
– 2XKO is dead
– Riot Forge is dead
– They bought Hytale, killed it, resurrected right after they sold it (LMFAO)
– The MMO is never coming out

🔥 https://t.co/ZPZGZcr3qh

— MikuBets (@MikuBets) August 20, 2026

Riot failed single player games riot failed card game riot failed fighting game wonder how the mmo will be!

— Alan Smith (@AlanSivirSmith) August 20, 2026

No T1 riftbound email

2XKO shutting down

On a 7 game loss streak.

No signs of the MMO releasing

It genuinely might be over for us

— Drew (@Midbeast) August 21, 2026

And even Riftbound fans are getting nervous.

The physical trading card game has been doing very well, with the T1 Riftbound cards set to earn Riot at least $10 million.

idk how else to explain this but if yall are shocked about 2xko get excited for riftbound in a year or two

— Daimax (@DaimaxREAL) August 20, 2026

I take back what I said about Riot never letting Riftbound die. If they can let 2XKO die in 8 months, one bad set might kill Riftbound lol.

— PhoneWalletSerial (@Philsgoodman97) August 20, 2026

Gone Too Soon

Considering 2XKO will only have had one year as a full game, Riot have caught a lot of flak for how quickly 2XKO has died.

2XKO was in development for 10 years and didn’t even have active support for an entire year shit is genuinely tragic if you think about it.

— H20: 2nd Impact (@I__HATE_SOCCER) August 20, 2026

2xko being in development for 10 years, launching with 8 characters, and eosing in a year… beautiful.

— 🐇 (@AHRIRENE) August 20, 2026

When Nintendo gives a competitive online game more support, you know things are bad.

And fans rued the potential of the game, especially as a competitive esport.

It was top 3 most entered tournament at Evo. Y’all were just impatient to build this up and that’s a shame but not surprising https://t.co/qvngjQ7rBl

— JF Lunch 🍉 (@JF_Lunch_) August 20, 2026

Of the 9 games with less entrants than 2XKO at Evo this year, 7 of them came out earlier and are still in active development or at least getting patches. I refuse to believe this game was dying or is dead. Tencent wanted to axe it and the devs since they took over. Fuck riot. pic.twitter.com/YFNODTEfYk

— Steak (@phillydsteak) August 21, 2026

The GREED of the CEO of Riot is INSANE.
Killing the game cause is LoL numbers or nothing.

Competitively 2XKO was doing AMAZING, up there with SF6 and Tekken. The playerbase was VERY active, finding matches in 2 seconds + Common to see people with skins.pic.twitter.com/ZKTyvyaFf2 https://t.co/AuLApUvA1t

— edelynn ☾ (@edelynnTTV) August 20, 2026

The Worst Name Ever?

Riot also received a lot of criticism for how it marketed the game, revealing it too early as Project L and letting the hype die down.

And then finally releasing it with a name that a lot of people did not like…

Now that it’s over, I think “2XKO” is the worst video game title there’s ever been, IMO. A very high bar to achieve ever since Square won the record with “Various Daylife.” pic.twitter.com/VL6ihZLr9f

— Toxic Pyro (@ToxicPyroYT) August 20, 2026

Can we finally admit universally that 2XKO is one of the top 3 worst named games of all time?

— ShyKnock (@DShyKnock) August 20, 2026

okay so like

now we know FOR SURE 2XKO was a horrible fuckin name right???

— ΔERΘDΔT 🇬🇭 (@Aerodat_) August 20, 2026

I knew it was a wrap once i saw that goofy ass 2xkO name as the title years ago

— S†eve ecom (@Hexingmyopps) August 20, 2026

Where do you think Riot went wrong with 2XKO? Should they have even killed it off so soon? Share your reactions with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.

Meanwhile, the first-ever Esports Nations Cup has been postponed by a year. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

Diehard 2XKO Fans Left Devastated

Faith in Riot Vanishes

Gone Too Soon

The Worst Name Ever?

Level Up Your Gaming News