Riot looks set to focus on grassroots esports tournaments over franchising for 2XKO

Riot Games has always been game first, esports second in its titles, but for a fighting game like 2XKO, esports feels more important than anything else.

After all, it’s a fighting game, and most fighting games live and die through the community and the support they get at tournaments. Evo is the major “you made it” moment for any developer, so how does Riot plan to take on the esports landscape for its upcoming title?

On July 21, Shaun Rivera, the game’s director, sat down with Dot Esports to discuss the prospect of 2XKO having an esports scene or even being on the Evo stage next year.

When talking about 2XKO’s approach to esports, Rivera told Dot Esports the team was “going to find out the best possible way to work with TO’s, other folks, and then places where folks can’t live and that we might be able to uniquely help.”

Rivera was hesitant to respond when asked if Riot would look into franchising as it does with League of Legends and other titles. “At the end of the day, I think there’s a lot of great stuff happening right now [at Evo],” and there’s “a lot of opportunity to level things up,” he said.

“I think a lot of things that we’ve heard of is fear, frankly,” Rivera continued. “Oh, y’all are going to try to take over esports and take everything over. That’s not what we want to do at all. That’s not what we’re gonna do.”

It’s definitely a unique approach to esports as a whole. The prospect of a 2XKO circuit that goes to places like Evo, CEO, and other significant events feels like the right call for the FGC because it’ll put the game at the forefront of some of the biggest fighting game tournaments in the world and potentially grow the competitive audience through osmosis.