2XKO Director Confirms Surprising Number of Launch Characters

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home March 28, 2025 47 Views 5 Min Read
2XKO Director Confirms Surprising Number of Launch Characters



Summary

  • 2XKO will launch with only 10 playable champions, fewer than fans expected, due to prioritizing an earlier release date.
  • The game’s director, Shaun Rivera, revealed the small launch roster in a Q&A session, confirming ongoing updates post-launch.
  • 2XKO’s development, originally announced in 2019, has confirmed 7 champions so far and aims for a unique solo/duo play experience.

While 2XKO is still a ways off from launch, the game’s director, Shaun Rivera, finally revealed the total number of characters that will be available at launch. While the team continues to take its time developing the game, 2XKO continues to make progress, even coming off a successful alpha test last year with more planned for 2025.

For most fighting games prior to launch, the major focus is on which characters will make the roster. This is a common theme for legacy franchises like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Tekken, games which not only have a passionate community but fan-favorite characters as well. Utilizing characters from League of Legends, 2XKO certainly has no shortage of options, with many fans continuing to debat who will be the perfect fit for this fighting game. As it turns out, players won’t have as many options as they were likely anticipating on day 1.

2XKO's Braum Only Goes Halfway to Addressing How to Adapt League of Legends' Champions

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2XKO’s Braum Only Goes Halfway to Addressing How to Adapt League of Legends’ Champions

Braum’s transition into a 2XKO fighter has gone quite smoothly, but there are still Champions more unusual than him waiting for their turn.

In a recent Q&A session on the 2XKO Discord channel, game director Shaun Rivera answered some fan questions that didn’t make the nearly hour-long dev diary. One question was around the launch roster, with Rivera admitting that 2XKO will have “10 playable champions at launch.” He admits that the 2XKO champion roster will likely be a lot smaller than fans were anticipating, and confirmed that the live-service elements of 2XKO means the game will continue to improve and grow over time.

Why the 2XKO Launch Roster is So Low

For most fighting games, especially recent ones like Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, or Mortal Kombat 1, only launching with 10 characters is typically unheard of. However, Rivera provided a reason for 2KXO, even though the game is able to draw from the expansive League of Legends roster. Essentially, the team could continue to build out the roster, though doing so would continue to push the game’s launch date further back. When faced with that reality, Rivera indicated that the team would rather get the game into the hands of players sooner, with continued updates post-launch continuing to add in more content.

We also believe that experiencing these champions through solo/duo play via a number of different fuses provide a lot for folks to dig into early on. The fact that we are a live service game means that it will only get better from there via new champion releases and gameplay updates.

At this point, it’s no secret how long the development process for 2XKO has taken. Originally announced in 2019 under the codename Project L, it was positioned as a spinoff of League of Legends, bringing the iconic champions into the fighting genre. So far, 2XKO has confirmed 7 champions in the game, including Ekko, Ahri, Darius, Yasuo, Braum, and Illaoi. Only just recently, the team re-confirmed Jinx for 2XKO, bringing one of the stars from Arcane into the upcoming title.

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