Riot Games announces layoffs as it downsizes 2XKO team following disappointing launch

Riot Games has announced it is downsizing the development team for its League of Legends fighting game 2XKO, just weeks after the title's console launch, with around 80 employees affected.

The details:

• In a statement posted to the company’s website on Monday, executive producer Tom Cannon explained that following 2XKO's exit from early access and full console release on January 21, player engagement "hasn't reached the level needed to support a team of this size long term." As a result, the studio is making major cuts to the development team but confirmed that the game will continue to receive support going forward.
• While Riot did not reveal the extent of the layoffs in the blog post, it has since confirmed in a statement to Game Developer that roughly 80 employees have been let go, which equates to around half of its global development team. Among those affected are producer Patrick Miller, who had been involved in the project for a decade and claims that he was laid off with just “30 minutes notice.”
• Riot has confirmed that plans for 2XKO’s Competitive Series remain unchanged and will go ahead later this year. “With a smaller, focused team, we’re going to dig in and make key improvements to the game, including some of the things we’ve already heard you asking for,” Cannon wrote. “We’ll share some of our plans soon.”