Riot Games laid out 2XKO’s 2026 competitive roadmap with a 20-event circuit, TO-focused support, and the console release
Riot Games has finally revealed what everyone was waiting for – the plans for the competitive 2XKO scene support. Many have speculated on whether Riot will go the route of League of Legends or Valorant, but they instead chose to seamlessly integrate into the preexisting FGC calendar.
In the new dev log video, Shaun “Unconkable” Rivera and Michael Sherman confirmed that instead of a Riot-run pro league, 2XKO will be completely integrated directly into the existing FGC ecosystem. They will back community events with funding, promos, and prize pool boosts.
The game is also set to become even more accessible: 2XKO hits Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 in January 2026 after the initial PC launch back in October.
Riot says that there were more than 1,500 community tournaments held since the Early Access launch, including 22 First Impact-sponsored events that the company supported directly with pot bonuses and marketing. Events like Evo France’s 2NICE KO, DreamHack Atlanta, RISC, and Midwest Mixfest already provided lots of memorable matches and storylines.
2XKO 2026 competitive format
For 2026, 2XKO is getting a 20-event Riot-sanctioned circuit called the 2026 Competitive Series, but built entirely on top of established community tournamets rather than publisher events. 5 of those will be Majors, one for each in-game season within the calendar year. 15 remaining events will be called Challengers, three per season. Challengers are explicitly framed as open-entry regional events to give more chances to compete.
Season one kicks off with these events:
- Major: Frosty Faustings XVIII – Jan. 29–Feb. 1
- Challenger 1: Genesis X3 – Feb. 13–15
- Challenger 2: Texas Showdown – March 27–29
- Challenger 3: Viennality – Mach. 28–29
Frosty Faustings in particular is already notable thanks to a partnership announced earlier, the 2XKO Mixed Mode bracket there has a $50,000 prize pool, upgraded from an originally planned $5,000.
Riot is also bringing back the Duo Bounty for Frosty Faustings, but with a significant change. In the First Impact program, the Duo Bounty was an extra prize only if a duo won the entire tournament. At Frosty, “it’ll go to the highest-placing duo no matter where they end their bracket run.”
Riot Games also doesn’t intend to stop at just the competitive circuit. In Season 1, they are launching Frame Perfect, a skin set that will have a portion of the proceeds go toward supporting tournament organizers worldwide. The bundle will be available all season and re-run during Majors.
The obvious question was always: “Is Riot going to do a League-style circuit for 2XKO?” Given the company’s track record with LCS, LEC, VCT, and the rest, many expected this to happen. But at least for 2026, it seems the answer is “no.” Riot explicitly says that because community TOs have already been running fighting game events for years, the best move is to support what already exists rather than build a parallel system.
They claim it’s just the beginning, and we would very much love to believe it: seeing a fighting game scene thrive would be a blessing. Meanwhile, get ready for the console release of 2XKO coming in January.
Published: Dec 5, 2025 06:00 pm