Free-to-play League of Legends fighting game 2XKO "went back into R&D mode" after the initial reveal, producer says, which was both "awkward" and "the right call"

2XKO trailer still of Vi fighter reveal — (Image credit: Riot Games)

The free-to-play League of Legends fighting video game 2XKO has finally entered Closed Beta, which has been a long time coming considering it was initially revealed back in 2019 under the codename Project L. But it's been a long road to now, especially considering 2XKO producer Tom Cannon apparently hoped that people would be "jumping out of their chairs" at its reveal – which seemingly just wasn't the case.

Speaking to Edge Magazine, Cannon says that the response from fans was less jumping and more "interesting I'll keep an eye on it." The initial reveal made what would become 2XKO look like Tekken or Mortal Kombat to many, but with League of Legends characters, which isn't exactly groundbreaking. In the end, the disconnect between the intended response and what actually occurred seems to have made the team go back to the drawing board a bit.

"It had potential, but we just didn't feel like it was living up to the combat fantasy of League of Legends, where you have the synergy between multiple champions and the talk about compositions where you have to coordinate," says Cannon. "We felt like if we could bring that kind of interaction and that kind of strategy to a fighting game, then we could bring something new to the genre. It was a hard decision to kill that version of the game because it was fun. And it was awkward because we announced this thing, and then we took it back into the shop and went back into R&D mode. But I think it was the right call."