We have received word from Riot Games saying that they're going to lay half of the 2XKO team, just weeks after console launch. But thankfully, a miracle has came across. But what is the miracle for the 2XKO team and the game's development cycle? Well, let's jump right in.
I'm back with a new post and man, this post is gonna leave me satisfactory. After years of waiting, 2XKO is finally out on console with Season 1, Caltlyn, balance changes and a new Battle Pass. I started playing this game since Alpha Lab 1 that was the very first at home playtest. I didn't get an invite to Alpha Lab 2 since it was a small playtest. But I got my guaranteed invite to Closed Beta for playtesting on console. I am loving every second of it. The controls are decent, but sometimes clunky on certain characters, Duo Play became well liked, but need some improvements that I'll go over later on.
Frosty Faustings became a blast. We've seen some duo action and mixed format. Can you even believe how crazy it was? It was a crazy event, whether it's Caitlyn being legal, making all cosmetics unlocked by default in Offline Mode and even wondering if Illaoi is straight up Polynesian. Crazy event, but sadly, we didn't get an announcement as to revealing the character roadmap for this year.
So now, Riot posted on X about the important update regarding 2XKO. Tom Cannon has announced that they're going to lay off half of the 2XKO team, just weeks after launch and a week after Frosty Faustings. Well, that's just great. 2XKO launched and then, the team has suffered mass layoffs, even after a successful Frosty Faustings. This is not the way to celebrate its launch. That caused the X account to go silent for a little while. But thankfully, there is one miracle that came with it.
"With a smaller, focused team, we're going to dig in and make key improvements to the game, including some of the things we've already heard you asking. We'll share some of our plans soon."
"Our plans for the 2026 Competitive Series are unchanged. We remain committed to partnering with tournament organizers and local communities. Our focus will continue to be on supporting the events and organizers that already power the FGC."
"Ultimately, this decision reflects a shift in how we operate. This isn't a judgment on individual Rioters or a signal that the journey is over. We're reshaping the team to give 2XKO a more sustainable path forward."
There are so many words that produced a scintilla of relief. Tom said that 2XKO will stay alive with a leaner team and that they'll share plans for 2XKO soon after saying that the game resonated well with a passionate core audience, but momentum had not reached to that level needed to support a team long-term when it was that large. I don't get how the momentum hadn't reached to the level need to bring long-term support to a team.
He also added that energy matters and that will fuel them into the next chapter as they improve the game. With a leaner 2XKO team, they'll be able to make key improvements and guarantee its long-term success, which is the miracle it came with. That includes the things players been asking for. There are key improvements to be made, thanks to being a smaller and more focused team, so I decided to list couple improvements that Tom could be referring to.
Current and Future Skins With Built-in Finishers in Offline Mode
Current and future cosmetics were unlocked by default in Offline Mode and they look sick. We saw them how sick they are, but Offlne Mode lacks the ability to set finishers. Now, in Offline Mode, the finishers should built in with skins that come with them. It can make matches even more rewarding, especially in the competitive scene and with hyper combo finishes. This is since the 2026 Competitive Series are still being in play despite laying off the team.
Investing in Duo Play Even More Online
I know that Shaun's words about making duos easier to find, but he did not mention online. I decided to forward his words about investing in Duo Play even more. There are two things that would make duos much easier to find.
First off, matchmaking in different settings. Currently, we have mixed matchmaking, but when not in a duo, it doesn't assign you with a random player to duo with. But we can amp it up to make mixed matchmaking duo up with a random player. This makes duos much easier to find and form. And to amp it up even more, matchmaking settings of mixed, solo and duo. When not in a duo, mixed, solo and duo setting get available. But when in a duo with a player they invited, mixed and duo settings get available.
Now let's move on to another part, the Casual and Ranked lobbies to have the same treatment as the private lobbies. Private lobbies allow us to ready up for solo and wait until a partner comes to duo up with someone at the cabinet. Additionally, the Casual and Ranked lobbies should have the same treatment as private lobbies, with readying up for solo and waiting for a duo partner before readying up at the cabinet. This would also make duos easier to find and make it even more rewarding.
Custom Lobbies
Since Alpha Lab 1, private lobbies where introduced. Because they're private, we have to invite our friends to them. But I think we need custom lobbies. They can be made either public or private, like in other fighting games. But the only catch is that we can't earn Credits or grind missions on private lobbies, so I'll make this one the least important.
Non-Expirable Battle Pass
Marvel Rivals has a Battle Pass that never expires when a new season launches. Instead, it adds new cosmetics on each new season, making things easier. I think it can make the grinding a bit easier. I think a non-expirable Battle Pass could work in 2XKO. Just unlock the premium tier and that's it. You just grind the Battle Pass without worrying about that it'll expire.
Less Grinding
Now, this is something that fans have been wanting. When a character launches, they have a three-week long Recruitment Event that involves grinding 10,000 XP to unlock them for free and after three weeks is up, they get available for 10,000 Credits. It has been the problem. Grinding weekly and daily missions speeds up the process of unlocking every character, but waiting next week for new weekly missions makes grinding a bit extensive. To make grinding any less extensive, this can be fixed so that the Credits pricing can be lowered into something reasonable on not just characters, but stages and chromas also.
A Bigger Character Roster
In Alpha Lab 1, the game started out with six characters. A roster that small became a point of criticism. When the game comes out on console, the roster doubled to 12 characters. It's a bit better than having a smaller roster than what we have now. I'm inclined to agree that this needs to be improved, but it is unknown if the release cadence of five new characters per year is still in play since the layoffs. We will find out soon. After all, there are numerous characters that are just begging to be in the roster, including fan favorites like Akali, Azir, Ezreal, Ashe, Zed, Leona, Pantheon, Garen and even Sona, with desired characters like Katarina and Kennen to be coming soon.
This exposed why 2XKO had to start out with a small roster because the team had a large amount of people at the very beginning. That's why Riot had to lay off half of the team.
These are the improvements that Tom could be referring to. Riot laying off half of the 2XKO team may be a bummer for those who were laid off and I wish them the best of luck hoping they announce a new game for Riot, but Tom made it clear; because this move ensures a long-term sustainability, 2XKO is here to stay and it's set to have key improvements they're planning to make.
See, layoffs usually suck. The worst one among the game industry was Hi-Rez conducting massive layoffs to halt active development of SMITE 1 and Paladins to focus on developing SMITE 2. But Riot laying off half of the 2XKO team reshapes it to give 2XKO a sustainable path it deserves moving forward.
When the team was that large, they weren't able to take creative risks in the first place and there are some distractions. Bigger doesn't always mean better as they say. A leaner 2XKO team means a long-term sustainability, staying focused on developing the game without any distractions and taking creative risks, especially when there are key improvements they plan to make. We don't know what are their future plans for 2XKO and what key improvements they're going to make, but rest assured that because the 2026 Competitive Series is still alive and well, 2XKO is staying alive for the next chapter. It's not going anywhere.
But 2XKO is not the only fighting game to stay alive for the next chapter because Skullgirls is also staying alive for the next chapter that both Skullgirls and 2XKO kicked off their competitive scenes with Frosty Faustings and faced criticism about a small roster at the start. I have a post that talks about what happened, why Hidden Variable walked away from Skullgirls development and how is Skullgirls staying alive under Autumn. Here's the link if you're interested in reading more about it.
https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/11/sgs-new-chapter-is-big.html
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