2XKO director Shaun Rivera has declared his fighting game developers can do exactly what League of Legends players have been longing to hear: Any champion, every character—they could all be “a sick fighting game character.”
It’s been one of the biggest questions hanging over 2XKO since well, well before the Riot Games fighting title got its big name change: Will every League champion eventually jump across to the brawler roster? The answer, of course, is no; there’s already nearly 170 playable characters back in the flagship MOBA. But Rivera and his team won’t leave any behind just because they’re tricky to make.
“I really believe we could create a sick fighting game character for any League champ,” the 2XKO director told VG247 this week. “That’s how confident I am in our team.”
To use an example, Rivera pointed to terrifying scarecrow Fiddlesticks. The demon champion first debuted on Summoner’s Rift back in 2009 and has carved out a horror-heavy following in the ensuing decade and a half. While he doesn’t lend himself to a muscle-strapped fighting character, the themes are right there.
“When you look at Fiddlesticks, that character is a horror character,” Rivera explained. “Scary, creepy, a menace. We can definitely deliver a 2XKO character that’s weird and has lots of strange horror aspects to it… 100 percent!”
In fact, the biggest thing standing in the 2XKO character-building team’s way isn’t how these characters can be translated. Instead, it’s about making sure their years of flavor and lore isn’t lost along the way. Most League champions have “immutable properties,” the 2XKO director explained, which can’t be left behind when being ported into a new game. The trick is figuring out if it’s mechanics, themes, or even both; a challenge the wide Runeterra fandom will now get to watch the devs solve.
Rivera did speak to Dot Esports at Evo 2024, when my colleague Adam Newell got the chance to grill him on Yordles specifically. At the time, the 2XKO developer said size would be a tricky problem. But again, don’t rule anything out yet—the team wants to bring as many famed characters over eventually.
“League champions are popular for many reasons,” the game’s director added. “Hopefully we’re expanding the number of chances people have to go, that’s my main! That’s what I’ve been waiting for [to play].”
Right now, the 2XKO roster is limited to Ahri, Braum, Darius, Jinx, Ekko, Illaoi, and Yasuo, though more may be added in the title’s impending beta this week.
