Yesterday, Riot Games made the surprise announcement that 2XKO, its League of Legends fighter, would release one more champion in Sett.
Back in August, Riot Games announced that 2XKO would end development in December 2026, with no future updates, though its servers will remain online.
The game, which only started its first official season this year, announced 2XKO would get two more characters in Lux and Samira, before being sunset.
And when revealing Samira, supposedly the game’s last new fighter, Riot also made the surpirse announcement that Sett is coming to the game.
How 2XKO Devs Rushed to Create Sett
After prematurely ending 2XKO’s development, Riot announced that it would refund any money players spent on the game.
Additionally, all characters have been made available for free, and every cosmetic has been grouped into the 2XKO Ultimate Bundle for $39.99 / £33.99 / €39.99.
Riot Games co-founder Marc ‘Tryndamere’ Merrill then recently claimed that 2XKO needed to make “high hundreds of thousands, if not millions” of dollars to stay alive.
The fighting game community reacted furiously to this, claiming Riot had unrealistic expectations and were killing a good game and esport.
- Fancy yourself an esports expert? Start betting with a $20 deposit at Polymarket and receive a $50 bonus!
Now, 2XKO editor-in-chief Ben ‘Draggles’ Forbes has revealed how the game’s remaining dev team rallied together to deliver one more surpirse for the community.
Draggles revealed that work on Sett only began in February after Riot laid off around 80 employees just three weeks after the game’s official release:
“Building Sett started after the Feb layoffs, he wasn’t always planned or delayed. He’s coming out (along with The Climb) because the dev team took a big swing, rallied (despite half the team being gone) and built him in six months.
“Until August-ish, we didn’t know if we’d be able to release him at all – everyone came together to make him real on a compressed timeline.”
A Rioter’s animation showreel also revealed that Malphite had also been considered for 2XKO.
However, out of League of Legends’ 173 champions, just 16 made 2XKO’s final roster.
Did Riot kill off 2XKO too soon or did the game not live up to the hype? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
An esports journalist for nine years with a focus on LoL Jack has written for national newspapers, interviewed major names, and driven people mad with puns. He's most proud of…
More from Jack Stewart
Comments