Obviously, there's a lot of excitement surrounding 2XKO. With various reveals about characters like Jinx and Braum, and Alpha Lab testing seemingly going well, there's plenty of opportunity for casual players to jump on this particular hype train. But what about the game's competitive prospects? Believe it or not, discussions surrounding the topic have been happening despite the game's unknown release date.
I've written about this topic before via an interview with Riot Games' Michael Sherman, who talked about the early desire for a competitive space in gaming. But now I come back to this topic from another angle. Team Liquid, one of the most popular esports organizations, recently hosted a pop-up event with Intel ahead of the League of Legends World Championship in London. Team Liquid's Vice President John “Tephus” Lewis provided some insight into the current dynamics of the game and the health of the fighting game competitive scene.
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“2XKO is definitely a focus for us,” Lewis said. “Because Riot has an incredible pedigree of creating great games with long lifespans and approaching the esports scene in a way that rewards investment and the value the organization brings to the space. No other upcoming FGC game can have that Behind such a combination, as far as we know.”
So will there be a rush to acquire and support new talent? Considering it's still early, a lot is still uncertain, but Lewis said changes surrounding the game are already happening. “I think there will be a rush, but it's hard to reliably predict what our public image will look like. We've been having conversations internally for over a year about what we suspect will be strong competitors, and if things align, I Definitely sees us getting into the game early.”
But apparently, 2XKO isn't the only beauty at the button-mashing dance. There is growing interest in the fighting game space from esports companies and other corporate entities. Games like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 are still here to stay, and may even be growing due to a combination of influencer/player-led events like Sajam Slam and more traditional esports events. What does Lewis think of the current fighting game scene?
“The FGC in general has always been a very grassroots scene made up of multiple different games, and that continues to this day to a large extent. This has built an incredible community and some very unique scenes activity, but when viewed from what perspective this is possible, but the grassroots focus means that some of the larger opportunities for the field as a whole ecosystem remain to be explored.
“During the ‘Esports Winter,’ the landscape of esports changed, moving away from sponsorship monetization and toward in-game monetization through digital merchandise sales. This created greater difficulties for professional organizations in the FGC in the short term “Because these organizations, our partnerships with publishers or developers to date have not been purely based on sponsorship or brand investment, which can be a significant challenge in today's market.”
With this in mind, it's clear why 2XKO might be attractive to teams. Riot Games, while by no means a perfect company when it comes to in-game integration with its competitive scene, has begun adding cosmetics and more to allow players to support their favorite teams in League of Legends and Valorant. If added to 2XKO, it could provide an avenue for digital merchandise sales to play into the competitive fighting game space.
Finally, I ask which race right now looks most promising to Lewis. Team Liquid is one of the teams that retains some fighting game players on its roster, so there's obviously got to be some merit in maintaining a presence in the field. To this, a wide range of answers were given. “This is a hard question to answer – it's hard to point to which one game is the most promising. We see a lot of promise in the FGC scene as a whole, but what happens with that potential? It's up to the publisher/developer Are you willing to foster its competitive community?”
It's an interesting time in the exciting world of competitive fighting games, especially with 2XKO getting ready to officially burst into our lives next year. Still, I agree with the sentiment that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” After all, that's the whole story of FGC. There will definitely be a winner in a certain era. For example, “Street Fighter 4” was in 2009, and “Tekken 7” was around 2020.
But even if 2XKO had a similar impact, it would ultimately lead to people investing more time, love, and money into the genre. After all, these three things are integral to any competitive field.
