Riot Co-Founder: 2XKO Needed 'Hundreds of Thousands, if Not Millions' of Monthly Players

Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill said 2XKO would have needed "hundreds of thousands, if not millions" of monthly active players to justify its budget. He blamed Street Fighter 6's 2023 launch and internal misalignment for the game's failure. Riot issued full refunds and ended active development after December 2026.

• Merrill: 2XKO needed hundreds of thousands or millions of monthly active players
• Street Fighter 6's 2023 release disrupted Riot's plans for the fighting game market
• Riot refunded players and stopped content updates after December 2026
• Street Fighter 6 averages 16,000–20,000 monthly active players on Steam