Key information
Riot Games co-founder, co-chairman, and chief product officer Marc Merrill revealed that 2XKO required hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of monthly active users to justify its ongoing budget and development time.
Merrill stated that Capcom's Street Fighter 6 launch disrupted their plans to capture the fighting game community's interest. He noted that if they had launched years before Street Fighter, they would have made a significant impact, but management divisions and internal strategy issues also contributed to the challenges.
Due to insufficient player interest to sustain long-term service, Riot issued full refunds, released a physical edition, and cancelled future content updates, while online play remains unaffected.
By comparison, Street Fighter 6 averages between 16,000 and 20,000 monthly active users on Steam, highlighting how unrealistic Riot's target was for a fighting game. Community reactions showed widespread surprise at these expectations.
