The League of Legends Fighting Game Will Be Released This Year

League of Legends fans around the world have had reason to celebrate over the last few months. The year ended with a bang as legendary South Korean team T1 bagged their record-breaking fifth League of Legends World Championship title (their second consecutive since 2023) and the Netflix animated series Arcane's conclusion was met with critical acclaim.

Now, LoL fans have even more to look forward to in 2025. Namely, the League of Legends-based fighting game 2XKO is set to release sometime this year. The 2v2 tag-team fighter is also planning another playtest after conducting an alpha labs playtest in 2024.

Developer Riot Games teased that they aim to host the next playtest in 2025, and stated it would be available in more regions than the first alpha lab. There will also be new features introduced alongside fixes to gameplay elements like controls and downtime, although details are yet to be seen. The next playtest will also introduce a new playable 2XKO character — fan favorite and Arcane lead, Jinx.

Initially announced as Project L, 2XKO will let players select two League of Legends characters for the tag-team fights. Players can switch between their Point (primary character) and Assist (secondary character) and can perform special moves using the conventional fighting game combos of directional inputs and attack buttons. The fighting game is set to be released for the PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

League of Legends

The upcoming playtest is certainly drawing hype from the player base. As it stands, League of Legends fans accustomed to the strategic, top-down MOBA gameplay will certainly need an adjustment period for the new game. 2XKO plays as a 2v2 fighting format, but League of Legends is a map- and strategy-based game that pits two teams of five players. Instead of the button-mashing typically associated with fighting games, LoL is mostly a point-and-click experience with a few keyboard keys used for special skills, ultimates, and map navigation.

Considering the vast differences in gameplay, playtests are an excellent way for fans and players to familiarize themselves with the characters and their distinct movesets. Of course, 2XKO will also be a fresh way for fans to see and use their favorite LoL characters.

As Riot's first-ever fighting game, it makes sense to base their world-building and gameplay on characters from the already familiar LoL universe. This also wouldn't be the first spinoff game Riot has made based on the LoL universe and its many characters (more on that later). LoL fans who aren't fighting game connoisseurs will likely be familiar with certain moves and combos as they will have seen them in the base League of Legends game, or watched professional LoL esports players make iconic plays with them.

LoL Esports

Today, League of Legends tops the list of most-watched esports events. The League of Legends 2024 World Championship currently ranks first with a recorded 6.86 million peak viewers, followed by the League of Legends 2023 World Championship hosted in South Korea, with 6.4 million peak viewers.

The dominant viewership also means increased revenue for the game's esports. League of Legends tournaments and events boast sizable prize pools. The cumulative prize pool for global LoL tournaments in 2021 reached $7.82 million. T1's most recent victory against China's Bilibili Gaming in 2024 pocketed the team 20% of the prize pool at $445,000.

LoL esports fanatics also have the opportunity to increase their own winnings, even if they aren't professional players like T1 Faker. Reputable esports betting platform Thunderpick offers various League of Legends esports betting lines. Aside from betting on the annual Worlds tournament, fans can also place bets on Mid-Season Invitationals and regional leagues like the LCK (South Korea), LEC (EMEA), LPL (China), and LTA (Americas). League of Legends was also part of the inaugural Esports World Cup event in 2024, which Thunderpick also covered, so fans have a variety of events and tournaments to place their bets on. Thunderpick is also known for platform-exclusive promos where LoL bettors compete to rank higher on the leaderboards and earn bonus winnings.

Avid fans of the esports scene can also watch and bet on tier 2 tournaments like the Hellenic Legends League and Prime League, where young and up-and-coming LoL esports players battle it out for smaller prize pools and a chance to get scouted by bigger teams in tier 1.

As esports betting continues to be popular, fans are also already gearing up for 2XKO's esports potential. Riot Games is known for its competitive esports titles, with other games like Valorant and Teamfight Tactics quickly building their own esports following — so a 2XKO esports community is definitely not out of the question, considering how passionate the competitive fighting game niche is.

Fighting Games and Esports

Even if not as popular or large in scale as LoL esports, the fighting game esports community is just as competitive and passionate. The Evolution Championship Series, or Evo, is the biggest fighting game tournament of the year. Players from around the world compete in popular new games and legacy titles. In fact, some of the highest-paid and most decorated esports players in history come from the fighting game genre.

The upcoming Evo 2025 is set to take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center in August, sponsored by Chipotle as their presenting partner for a third year. Iconic fighting game titles announced so far include Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Marvel vs Capcom 2 (a special retro tournament). While 2XKO won't be making it to this year's lineup, it'll be interesting to see if it would join the ranks of fighting legends like Tekken and Street Fighter next year. If not, fans can even expect Riot Games to form its own fighting game league to celebrate the game.

Other League of Legends Spinoffs

While we wait for further news and updates on 2XKO, fans can keep themselves busy with the other League of Legends spinoff games available. Thus far, we have the exclusive mobile port Wild Rift, which adopts the same MOBA format in a simplified version for mobile gamers.

Meanwhile, players who enjoy the LoL universe but aren't fans of the MOBA genre have also flocked to Riot's LoL-based autochess game, Teamfight Tactics, and the digital trading card game, Legends of Runeterra — both of which have their own dedicated esports communities.

Most recently, Riot Games announced Project K, a physical trading card game set in the Runeterra universe. Fans have described the card game's flow as similar to Marvel Snap, where players fight for territory using known LoL champions as part of a 40-card deck. Since LoL is a heavily character-based game, individual Legend cards will also have distinct skills to give players an edge in battle. For example, a Jinx card allows players to draw one card if they have one or fewer cards in their hand at the beginning of the turn.

We'll have to wait a bit for an official game name, but the card game is set to hit stores in 2025. It's currently set to launch first in China alongside a partner and will have localized versions in different areas of the world.

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