2XKO's Launch Roster: Is Eight Enough, Or Did Riot Just Cast a Half-Baked Spell?
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Riot's 2XKO is launching with just eight characters, drawing criticism for being 'safe' and 'boring' given League of Legends' vast roster. But a Eurogamer interview with devs reveals the 'why': building a stable core game from scratch, managing complex character tech, and ensuring an accessible initial roster for all fighting game fans, with promises of 'wacky' and 'freaky' picks coming later.
Right, so 2XKO, that long-awaited tag-team fighting game from Riot Games, is gearing up for its closed beta this September. And, as you'd expect, the internet has some thoughts. Specifically, about the initial roster of eight characters. Now, these aren't just any eight characters, mind you; they're plucked straight from the colossal universe of League of Legends.
From what I've been tinkering with, and what the devs have been saying, these initial picks are mechanically sound, and yeah, they're pretty faithful to their LoL counterparts. But a decent chunk of the fighting game community (FGC) has slapped another word on 'em: 'boring'. Or, at the very least, 'unsurprising'. It seems like Riot's gone for the big guns, the 'poster children' of League, leaving those of us with a hankering for the truly wild and weird corners of Runeterra feeling a tad… well, underwhelmed.
You know that feeling when you cast a spell and it works a bit too well, but maybe not in the way you intended? Or when you try to summon a mighty beast but accidentally conjure a particularly polite squirrel? That's kind of the vibe here. Players want their monstrous, tentacled, robot-y champions, and Riot's given us… mostly humans. Albeit, very powerful, very popular humans.
So, to get the lowdown on why Riot's gone with what some folks are calling a 'safe' initial lineup, this dive into Riot's strategy comes courtesy of a fascinating interview by Connor Makar over at Eurogamer, who had a cracking chat with Executive Producer Tom Cannon and Game Director Shaun Rivera at Evo 2025. It’s always good to hear directly from the wizards behind the curtain, eh?
**The 'Why' Behind the Eight: More Than Just Popularity, Mate?**
When asked about the initial eight, Tom Cannon laid it out pretty clearly. They started from scratch. And when I say scratch, I mean *scratch*. Building the team, the tech, figuring out what this game even *was* – it’s a monumental task. And when you're doing that, trying to simultaneously create a robust, complex fighting game *and* animate a colossal, multi-limbed monstrosity like, say, Cho'Gath with all its terrifying nuances? Bloody hell, that's a recipe for scope creep and possibly a digital meltdown. Cannon admitted that building those 'wacky characters' involves a tonne of tech, art, rigging, and animation work. If they'd tried to do all that at once, it would've been 'very difficult'. Fair dinkum, that makes sense. Sometimes, you gotta build the foundation before you start adding gargoyles to the roof.
Shaun Rivera chimed in with the player-centric angle, saying they really want to make sure there's a champ that a player can see and instantly declare, "That's my main!" Maybe it's a look, a voice line, a mechanic – something that just clicks. And from there, ideally, they find another and build a team. This means the initial roster needed enough unique thematic and mechanical elements to offer variety, even if it feels a bit 'standard' to some.
Now, about those 'poster children'. Cannon acknowledged they do have them in the mix. But he also stressed the importance of gameplay broadness: needing a zoner, a striker, different archetypes to ensure a 'healthy meta' right out of the gate. And while popularity is certainly a factor (no denying that!), he reckons it's less about just picking popular League champs for the sake of it, and more about those characters having an inherent 'hook' or appeal that translates brilliantly into a fighting game. They're popular for a reason, right? Their fight style, their attitude, their look – they just lend themselves to being elevated in a brawler.
Take Yasuo, for instance. He's massively popular in League, but he also perfectly fits that high-flying samurai archetype in a fighting game. Illaoi, with her tentacle magic, was mentioned as a 'surprise' pick that still fits the humanoid mould but offers a distinct visual and thematic flair. They wanted a range of sizes, power fantasies, mechanics, and fighting game archetypes. Even something like Braum, a support champion in League, made it in because they wanted to explore how a 'support' character would fight on their own in 2XKO.
Curiously, regional diversity wasn't a huge factor in the initial picks. Why? Because, as Cannon explained, many new players won't be familiar with the sprawling lore of Ionia or Noxus. They’ll learn as they go. It's a pragmatic approach, focusing on gameplay and broad appeal first, rather than deep-cut lore connections that might only resonate with existing League fanatics.
**The Promise of Wacky Wonders: Wait and See, Mate!**
This is where my curious wizard brain starts to fizz. The developers *know* we want the weird stuff. Rivera, himself a former Tekken player (shout out to my fellow FGC heads!), understands the appeal of characters like Jack or King – the truly off-beat fighters. And while he couldn't spoil anything, he did say, "Wait and see." He emphasized that it's no accident this question keeps coming up. There's a 'strong desire' for characters that aren't just 'typical humans doing human things'. It's part of the fantasy of the League IP, after all. There are over 160 characters in League, from monstrous beings to quirky Yordles!
Both Cannon and Rivera hinted strongly that once the 'core game is in a really great spot' – which they believe it is after recent Alpha Lab changes – they're 'starting to be more adventurous' with the types of characters they'll build. "No champ is off the table," Rivera declared. This means the technical and artistic hurdles for those truly strange characters are being tackled, and we can expect to see them *after* the closed beta. They even talked about developing an 'aesthetic sense' for fighting styles based on regions, like how Shotos (Ryu, Ken, etc.) have their signature moves in Street Fighter. Imagine an 'Ionian fighting style' in 2XKO! That’s pretty cool, if you ask me.
**So, Is Eight Enough?**
Look, eight characters for a fighting game launch can feel a bit thin, especially in an era of sprawling rosters. It invites a healthy dose of skepticism, particularly when the initial batch leans so heavily on the obvious choices. Are they just playing it safe to reel in the casual League fan and then hit us with character passes later? Possibly. That's the cynical gamer in me speaking.
But after diving into the Eurogamer interview, the 'why' becomes a lot clearer. It’s less about being 'boring' and more about being *foundational*. Riot isn't just making a fighting game; they're building an entirely new competitive ecosystem from scratch. That means prioritizing a stable, enjoyable core gameplay experience, ensuring a balanced meta, and making it accessible enough for new players to find their footing and their 'main'. And yes, humans are just mechanically easier to build than a character that defies all known anatomy. It's a pragmatic, if a little un-magical, approach.
The real test will be what comes next. If Riot truly delivers on those promises of 'wacky' and 'freaky' characters post-launch, embracing the full, glorious weirdness of the League of Legends IP, then this initial, more conservative roster might just be a smart first step in what could become a truly captivating fighting game. My inner digital wizard is cautiously optimistic, and genuinely excited to see what strange new spells they'll conjure up next. After all, you can't blow a hole through reality if you haven't even mastered a basic fireball, can you?
Tags: 2XKO, Fighting Games, Riot Games, League of Legends, Game Development
Original article: Eurogamer