Submitted 2 weeks ago by ampersandrew@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
https://www.riotgames.com/en/news/2xko-active-development-ends-december-2026
Personally, Vanguard anti cheat and a lack of real ownership made this a no-go for me. I’m very in the FGC, but everyone I know that still plays the game, hates it. I don’t know why they do it.
Imagine putting millions of dollars and years of development into a game just to shut it down because it doesn’t take off immediately.
The horseshits execs that made this decision should be beat up.
I’m torn at considering this premature… I think about games like multiversus that didn’t find their footing, got shut down for a year to rebuild and rework the systems, then failed it’s second release too. In that regard, I sort of appreciate they’re failing it fast.
To death, you say?
Funfact, I wrote “beaten to death” before but wasn’t sure if overzealous mods ban me for it lmaoo
Shame, I would’ve loved to try it out but since it doesn’t run on linux I never could. I bet it would’ve been great on steam deck too.
It’s hard to believe they didn’t do the market research* to recognise that the FGC is quite small compared to other genres.
* like just talk to literally any gamer
I’ve seen too many fighting games sell 10 million copies now to agree that fighting games are a small market.
This one was f2p, so it doesn’t matter how many copies it “sold”. It needed dedicated long term players that would shell out for hats.
The casual fighting games market does exist, but it’s going to be people that buy the fighting game for an IP they like (say, Dragon Ball Z) and play it for a couple months then put it on the shelf. Maybe they boot it back up (and pay $10 again) when the DLC adds Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta or whatever.
2XKO was never a game that could make money from casuals, because there was no reason for anyone except “fgc mechanics heads” to give a single shit about the game. And those fgc heads saw a 2v2 tag fighter with ten characters and responded with a resounding “lmao”. Doesn’t help that it’s a fighting game with kernel anticheat.
Everything is relative. The FGC is 'small' relative to the likes of League or Valorant, and Riot seems to truly expect that every project should be as popular as those or else they'll pull the plug.
That‘s what I thought. I wonder if there was any game they could‘ve made in this genre that would‘ve met THEIR expectations. There‘s money to be made for sure, but THAT kinda money with a fighting game? Just no way.
I mean, the hope is for something new; to be that one that creates a genre boom. I’m sure Among Us wasn’t the first party deception game.
I’m guessing at least some of the planning just came from developers who are fighting game fans that want to see a success there, rather than business planners.
But you’re also right that a lot of the audience has zero patience for trying a game where two characters face off with a big life bar in three rounds. Hundreds of thousands have been promised “It’s good for beginners now!” and had that promise broken with motion inputs and skill gaps.
Still thinking back to when this was first announced and people were hyping it up like the mere presence of Riot's money was going to result in Project L completely dominating the entire rest of the FGC combined by an order of magnitude. I knew from the start that it would never live up to such unrealistic expectations.
From what I've heard, it doesn't sound like the game even did that badly, I wish some of my other favorite games had as healthy of a playerbase. But we're in this weird world where some games are perfectly comfortable with whatever audience they get and others have to pull the plug ASAP if they doesn't hit Fortnite-sized numbers overnight.
They just needed to have realistic expectations and they could've been fine with what they have.
They could have been phenomenally successful if they released a game with rollback back when there were almost none. Then 2021 came along and rollback fighters are basically all that exist anymore.
The hope wasn’t that the game would dominate the existing FGC, but that the IP would have such a massive pull that it would expand the FGC so much (and in the longer term, make the players be l branch into other games in the genre).
I don’t know what Riot expected, the genre is niche and from what I’ve heard, the game wasn’t very accessible in the first place, basically trading old hard stuff against new one (not that me being on Linux could have tried it myself), so yeah. My league friends didn’t even try it
And say what you want about SNK and their Saudi money, there’s a lot of valid criticism, but CotW is probably the best-supported and fairest game currently out.
Fuck the Saudis and Ronaldo though
The hope wasn't that the game would dominate the existing FGC, but that the IP would have such a massive pull that it would expand the FGC so much (and in the longer term, make the players be l branch into other games in the genre).
And even ten years ago I thought that was delusional.
That was short
who would have thought league players wouldn’t be interested in a game genre that actually requires skill
I wasn’t interested in the game as I don’t like tag fighters (not that I could have played it with Vanguard), but it’s a shame to see so much effort being wasted, especially with how long development was.
I haven’t explore this title nor I had an idea it exists, am sorry, but what I found on socials is quite… sorrowful… Included some below…
The work on the characters is quite significant, or frankly, freaking marvelous, too…
For example, the art for Jinx found: Jinx - Wiki (With an arsenal of custom guns, traps, and explosives…)
The new upcoming character, Lux… is not words… so ineffably magnificent…
I’ve been dreaming of a game like this since I first played league of legends back in middle school and when it was announced they were making a fighting game I was so excited and we waited so long and finally got it in our hands and I enjoyed playing with my duo so much. Just for it to die not even a FULL YEAR after full release… nothing short of devastated, disappointment, grief and anger are the only emotions I can think on. I was so excited to see more champions. Ones that would be perfect for this game. Now it will never happen. If you wanna truly make this right riot, I would hope you let the modding community be able to work on the game
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Bro i waited 5 years for this game ever since they announced it, played every beta and alpha and been playing since release, bro please don’t do this i love this game, i love fighting games so much but this one has been the one i’m best at i’ve been having so much fun with my friends and enjoyed the game a lot and i know a lot of people do too, so why stop development when there is still many people playing it and the events are getting pretty good attendence, i hope they rethink their decision or continue development in some way
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They expected the same return as TFT and LoL when a fighting game isn’t very profitable because the genre have a small player base. I think they should have released a lot of more characters. It’s a little sad. I just don’t know what to do now. I’m devastated… I had a lot of fun. The feeling of when you improve is so satisfying or when you finally learn and land a new combo. It was my first fighting game
What? Weird, I had a mild interested in this game and didn’t know it ever came out. Damn, feels bad but I guess happy I didn’t get invested into it.
Pretty wild to see considering how many years the game was in development and some of the names behind it.
Pretty much western development studios in a nutshell, sadly. Try to go for a model that maximizes engagement and hope the mass monetization comes from various forms of MTX. But lootboxes can’t be used anymore, so you’re stuck focusing on skins. But skins are still expensive to produce and can’t be put out fast (which is how mobile games get away with that).
So there’s big numbers in the beginning but not enough money coming in to justify the expensive production. Executives don’t let it cook on the market long enough and just shut it down early. Even though by all other metrics, it was a good game with potential to foster a new franchise/sub-franchise. No one wins. Its Multiversus all over again.
popcar2@piefed.ca 2 weeks ago
All things considered, that’s a nice gesture. As unlikely as it is I hope they also add offline & LAN play for when the servers inevitably shut down.
emb@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I haven’t tried it, but there’s a line in there “Offline play is unaffected.” Is there an offline mode?
Ideally I’d like to see them do a physical console release next year with the final build. But I know that has no chance. Also ideally, and probably just as unlikely, would be great if I could play it on Linux. AFAIK there’s anticheat that wouldn’t let me play online if I tried.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
There’s an offline mode, but it still needs to be authenticated through the Riot launcher, and depending on how it works, it could be a concern for preservation.
galaxy_nova@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Doesn’t game have vanguard? Kinda makes offline feel a bit useless. Also yah know Linux :sadge: