Riot Discontinues 2XKO Following Skin Sales Boosting Evo’s Prize Pool

Riot Games is set to halt active development of 2XKO in December, marking the end of a fighting game that had recently generated the largest prize pool at this year’s Evolution Championship Series through its in-game cosmetics.

In an announcement made on August 20, it was confirmed that servers will remain operational beyond 2026, and players can continue to download and enjoy the game for free on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Before the final bug-fix patch in December, two last champions, Lux and Samira, will be introduced. On the same day, Riot disabled the purchase of KO Points, the game’s premium currency, and will refund KO Points and Starter Edition purchases made prior to the announcement.

The company stated, “We would have continued active development if we saw any viable future, but 2XKO costs us substantially more to operate than it brings in, and engagement has stayed relatively flat despite our larger updates.”

For tournament organizers, the more significant aspect is not the refunds.

In a December 5 post detailing competitive plans for 2026, Riot unveiled Frame Perfect, a new skin line designed for competitive play, where a portion of the proceeds will support tournament organizers globally, covering both prize pools and production costs. This structure is inspired by the revenue-sharing model from the Champions team skin in Valorant. It represents a significant improvement over the previous year’s arrangement, where Riot’s earlier circuit, First Impact, operated across 22 community-organized events with a mere $2,500 duo bounty and no revenue sharing.

The impact was felt quickly. On April 23, Evo announced that Riot’s sponsored prize pools for all three of its 2026 events would increase to $75,000 each. “Thanks to your contributions via the ‘Frame Perfect’ skin bundle, the Riot-sponsored prize pools for 2XKO across #EvoJapan2026, #Evo2026, and #EvoFrance2026 will be increased to $75,000 per event,” the organizer stated. Previously, the Riot-sponsored pool for Evo Japan was set at $60,000, and this new amount does not include Evo’s own base pot or a separate $5,000 duo bounty.

The results were evident at Evo in Las Vegas from June 26 to 28, where 2XKO boasted a $135,000 prize pool, the highest of any title at the event, surpassing Street Fighter 6 at $100,000 and Tekken 8 at $70,000. This achievement came with only 1,081 entrants, compared to 2,416 for Street Fighter 6 and 1,355 for Tekken 8, according to Liquipedia records. A game just five months post-launch was outpacing the two giants of the genre.

Now, that revenue mechanism is being turned off.

With KO Points sales disabled and prepaid cards no longer usable in 2XKO, the only remaining real-money option is a $39.99 Ultimate Bundle set to launch with the September 8 patch, which includes “all skins, skin chromas, and taunts for every champion up to and including Lux.” Riot’s announcement does not clarify whether any of the proceeds will support tournament organizers and does not mention Frame Perfect at all.

The prize commitments remain intact. “The Competitive Series is unchanged through 2026, and we’ll continue to support players and TOs,” the announcement states. “This includes prizing for all Major and Challenger events.” With the revenue share eliminated, that funding will now come directly from Riot. Three sanctioned events are scheduled after the September patch: First Attack in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on October 3 and 4; Evo France in Nice from October 9 to 11, where 2XKO is still part of the eight-title lineup; and Battle Coliseum in São Paulo on November 21 and 22, which Riot has indicated will be the final Competitive Series event.

Looking ahead, there’s no budget set. “Beyond 2026, TOs can continue to run events featuring 2XKO using the Community Competition Guidelines, online or offline,” the announcement explains. This document allows events of any scale without Riot’s approval and states that “there are no monetary thresholds or limits for prizing, entry fees, or sponsorship agreements.” Organizers can charge entry fees and seek sponsorships, but they cannot use Riot’s logo, imply the company’s involvement, or broadcast on linear television. The potential for revenue is limitless, while the minimum is zero.

There was never a guaranteed minimum. Michael Sherman, Riot’s global head of Teamfight Tactics and emerging esports, noted in January that the arrangement did not include a guaranteed payout. “So there’s a lot already built in there, but it is not being framed as a minimum guarantee,” he said.

Organizers accepted the deal under those conditions because the alternative was no support at all. “Anything that helps tournaments increase prize pools and recoup production costs is critical in the decentralized, grassroots ecosystem that competitive fighting games rely on. Live events are inherently expensive, with reliable new revenue streams often being few and far between,” said Rick Thiher, general manager of the Evolution Championship Series.

The fighting game community has seen similar situations before. Crowdfunded prize pools turned Dota 2’s The International into the largest prize pool in esports history, reaching $40,018,195 in 2021, with a quarter of battle pass revenue directed straight to the pool. However, Valve canceled the battle pass in 2023, resulting in that year’s edition paying out around $3.4 million.

One key difference is transparency. Valve disclosed its revenue share, while Riot has not revealed what portion of Frame Perfect revenue reached organizers, only committing to “a portion of proceeds” in its December post.

This wind-down marks the second significant cut in six months. Riot laid off about 80 members of the 2XKO team on February 9, just three weeks after the game’s launch on January 20. A Riot spokesperson indicated that these cuts affected roughly half of the game’s global development team. This announcement was made by Executive Producer Tom Cannon, who co-founded Evo with his brother Tony and joined Riot in 2016 when it acquired their studio, Radiant Entertainment. He assured that Riot’s “plans for the 2026 Competitive Series are unchanged,” a promise the company has upheld through both announcements.

However, one competitive detail stands out against that commitment. Riot is removing ranked play in the September 8 patch, along with battle passes, seasons, and events, consolidating players into casual lobbies. All three remaining sanctioned prize events will occur after that date.

Questions remain regarding the share of Frame Perfect revenue that reached tournament organizers, the total amount distributed across the 2026 Competitive Series, whether the refund program affects money already disbursed, how many of the 20 sanctioned events will return in 2027 without Riot’s backing, and the overall cost of 2XKO to Riot compared to its earnings. The company has stated it will “have conversations with community leaders over the next few weeks.”

The immediate outcome is that First Attack, Evo France, and Battle Coliseum will fulfill their prize commitments. The broader concern for the fighting game community is whether a publisher-funded revenue share that exceeded the genre’s established circuits—only to vanish within a single season—will be seen by future publishers as a model to emulate or a cautionary tale about the risks involved when the underlying game fails.