Riot's 2XKO: Was That 'Early' Reveal a Catastrophe or a Crucial Kick in the Butt?
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Riot Games' 2XKO, formerly Project L, has been a long time coming, and its developers admit the early reveal came with a 'cost' in player perception. But they insist that showing the game early and getting player feedback was crucial for pushing them to make the 2v2 fighter something truly special.
Originally reported by Eurogamer.
Right, so you know that feeling when you're trying to conjure something magnificent, say, a flawless arcane orb, and it just… doesn't quite coalesce? You show a glimpse of it, hoping for a gasp of awe, and instead, you get a polite nod and a 'Hmm, interesting.' That, mate, seems to be a bit like the journey of Riot Games' fighting game, 2XKO – formerly known as the fabled Project L.
For a game that's about to hit its closed beta on September 9th, 2XKO might look like a quick sprint to the finish line from its official February 2024 reveal. But if you’re like me, someone who accidentally tripped over a forgotten scroll of game development history and landed in the archives, you’ll know the *true* story is a far more winding, magical-mystery tour than any simple 'reveal to launch' timeline suggests. And apparently, the developers themselves are now chatting about the 'cost' of showing their hand perhaps a little too early in the grand game of expectation management.
Let’s wind the chronometer back a bit, shall we? This isn't just about a game that appeared out of thin air. This saga kicks off way back in March 2016, when Riot went and acquired Radiant Entertainment, the clever clogs behind the rather forward-thinking fighter, *Rising Thunder*. This was the digital equivalent of a faint, ethereal whisper in the ether, suggesting Riot might be brewing up a fighting game. Fast forward to 2019, Riot's big 10th-anniversary bash, and *boom* – Project L was officially unveiled. Except, here’s the kicker: that initial 1v1 brawler concept? Yeah, that got unceremoniously binned, and they went back to the drawing board, reimagining it as the 2v2 duo play fighter we’re seeing today. Fair dinkum, that’s quite the pivot!
So, if you’re one of those ultra-dedicated fans, the sort who keeps tabs on every flickering pixel of information, you’ve been waiting for this game for nearly a decade. A *decade*, mate! For those with a slightly less encyclopaedic memory, it’s still been a good six years plus. No wonder a fair chunk of the fighting game community has developed a case of the fidgets, wondering what in the bloody hell has taken so long. It’s like waiting for a legendary quest item to drop, only to find out the dungeon boss decided to take a decade-long nap.
At Evo 2025 (yeah, apparently I time-traveled a bit for this scoop, or Connor Makar did!), Eurogamer sat down with the big wigs behind 2XKO: executive producer Tom Cannon and game director Shaun Rivera. The burning question on everyone’s lips? Was it revealed too early? And how do they reconcile the 'proper reveal' with the 'perceived reveal' of a game that's been cooking for nearly ten years?
Tom Cannon, bless his digital heart, doesn't reckon he'd go back and change things. "For sure, there was a cost to doing that," he admitted. "It puts a clock in player's minds, now the meme is [that there's been] nine years of development. The reality was that we were deep in R&D when we showed that. But we needed the player's reaction to that announcement to sort of kick us in the butt, and inspire us to make something that was… special and different."
Now, that’s an interesting bit of wizardry, isn’t it? Using the collective energy of player disappointment as a form of motivational magic. Cannon went on to explain they were looking for players to be "jumping out of their chairs!" when they first showed Project L. When they didn't get that reaction, they packed it up and took it "back to the shop." This isn't just a corporate talking point; it's a peek into the messy, often humbling reality of game development. Sometimes, you need that public feedback, even if it's the gentle nudge of 'meh,' to truly find your North Star.
Shaun Rivera, who’s been with Riot for thirteen years (and on Project L/2XKO for five), echoed Cannon’s sentiments. He loves Riot’s open approach, encouraging developers to actually, you know, *talk* to players. "For our team, we haven't spent decades making a fighting game. We're learning as we go," Rivera explained. He pointed to early alpha tests and Evo appearances as vital opportunities to get the game in front of people. "To your point, hey, has it been too long? I think people just want to play the game. But we're learning as we go through, and we have this date now: 9th September."
It’s a fascinating dichotomy: the public perception of a game perpetually in development versus the internal reality of a team iterating, learning, and outright restarting sections. Rivera admitted there's not much they can do about the public's perception of the timeline, especially after the Radiant acquisition. The early 1v1 version, before his time on the project, just "wasn't good enough." The decision to switch to 2v2 duo play was a significant one, a full reimagining, not just a patch. So, while the roots might stretch back to 2016, the current game has a much shorter, more focused development cycle.
So, is this perception versus reality a problem? Rivera’s answer was disarmingly simple: "Sometimes you've just got to deal with it, you know." The solution, in his view, is the most straightforward bit of magic in the dev’s toolkit: get the game into players' hands and keep making it better. It’s like a wizard unveiling a new spell, not with a flourish, but with an open invitation to try it out and point out where the mana leaks are.
Riot's ambition for 2XKO is to make a fighting game that's genuinely beginner-friendly, and taking this long, absorbing player feedback, and even scrapping entire versions, is clearly part of that grand plan. The 'cost' of an early reveal might be a meme about development time, but if it ultimately leads to a better, more polished, and more accessible game, perhaps it's a cost well worth paying. We'll find out come September 9th, won't we?
Tags: Fighting Games, Game Development, Riot Games, 2XKO, Project L
Original article: Eurogamer