The League of Legends community might be raring to go with Riot Games’ upcoming fighting game 2XKO, but little did they know the developers might have had another fighting game in the pipeline that would have brought the exciting world of platform fighting to Runeterra.
Riot was reportedly developing a Smash-inspired title called Pool Party, which would’ve featured champions from League on a classic platform-based fighting system, according to reporter Mikhail Klimentov. The prototype title was, however, closed this past May, with about 70 to 80 employees working on its systems at the time of its cancellation.
The original pitch for Pool Party was a title in the same lineage as Super Smash Bros. Melee but with League characters, while also supporting the title’s subsequent esports scene with Riot’s extensive experience with building out thriving ecosystems for games like League of Legends, VALORANT, and Teamfight Tactics.
According to reports, one of the main reasons why Pool Party was canceled was because higher-ups at Riot were hesitant to release a possible flop, especially after witnessing the perceived “failure of MultiVersus.” MultiVersus is a title released by Warner Bros. that featured characters from various universes in the company’s wide umbrella of products.
Ultimately, executives reassessed the fighting game market and concluded that there wasn’t much room for a possible competitor to Smash Bros., even though the series has been around for over two decades. The series is still as popular as ever among die-hard fans, and there hasn’t been a game to take its place atop the best platform fighters in the scene.
In the meantime, however, Riot is still working on its upcoming fighting game, 2XKO, which will be launching its first online play test this coming August.
