Fighting games are one of those genres in which the competitive scene (the brutal arena where the best fights in games occur) is closely tied to the general gaming experience. This means that Riot Games’ upcoming fighting game 2XKO, which will undergo its first public alpha test this August, will inevitably host tournaments around the world. Frankly, the question of how Riot Games plans to enter the competitive fighting game space will have broad implications for the player base.
This is also a strange and interesting topic. Riot Games has previously taken a very hands-on approach to managing the competitive space in games like League of Legends and Valorant, and the fighting game scene has proven itself capable of building communities regardless of developer support. There is reason to believe that the community itself knows best and that the best people to develop a grassroots competitive environment belong to event organizers who have been doing this work for decades, rather than those with corporate backgrounds.
Even so, Riot Games is eager to get in on the action. The game was first announced at Evo, rather than at a Riot event. At least for now, there seems to be a genuine desire to work with existing fighting game infrastructure, a sentiment widely echoed by the team.
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It’s obviously early days. The game isn’t out yet. But despite this, I wanted to sit down and learn more about Riot’s goals and plans for the 2XKO competitive scene. As a result, I was able to steal Michael Sherman away from the Evo 2024 show floor for 15 minutes to conduct one of the first interviews on the subject (besides the brilliant My Perfect Console podcast, which managed to snag him in the first place). As Riot’s Director of Esports for TFT and 2XKO, and someone with first-hand experience in the grassroots Smash scene, few can offer such insight into what we can expect in the near future.
VG247: So, you’re in Evo! For someone in your position, what would you say about this event, its form, its structure?
Sherman: “It’s an incredible feat to be here and see the Evo. This is the third Evo I’ve seen in person and the sixth I’ve followed in as many years. I think especially in the last three years, seeing this explosive The product is really cool. Evo has grown to a really cool level.
VG247:As a part of being different, this tends to my main problem. Clearly, Riot is looking to create 2XKO, which will inevitably be competitive. You said in a recent episode of the My Perfect Console podcast that Riot is positioned to provide add-on features rather than to step in and change the status quo. Can you explain what you mean?
Sherman: “I’ve been in this role for two and a half years and 2XKO has been my job title. I have to admit that I’ve spent most of my time attending events and watching matches rather than getting into them because the real answer is we need to bring the game Rolling it out, seeing how the community plays with it, what they build around it, we have some theories and stuff that we’re excited about, but where it’s going to take it.
“Now that the fighting game scene has a solid foundation, that means, okay, we expect the big tournaments will want to host 2XKO. So how do we make sure we’re ready to support that, and how do we build on top of that? That also means We don’t believe the right way to go into this is anything we’ve done for other games, we’re going to say “this is the event we’re doing for us, but don’t do it”. Cooperation and collaboration from other members of the community are critical to our success. [the community] Become additional.
VG247: What I’m asking is, Riot Games didn’t have to hold open bracket events like Evo did in the past, keeping the number of entrants relatively limited, rather than open brackets. Do you think there will be any challenges entering this different style of competitive space?
Sherman: “The unique thing about fighting games is that there are a lot of components that make it easier to run than a lot of our other games. In fact, you can have a thousand consoles here and run a thousand games at the same time, and each of those games Each game is ten minutes long, which means you could cycle through a lot of games, like League of Legends or Valorant, that would require 10 times that space, so we had to build our own campaigns to create the experience that players wanted.
VG247: In the past, Riot Games has been very focused on the competitive scene, including all major events. Things are different now with Teamfight Tactics, it started very grassroots and now there are major events surrounding it. Do you think Riot has taken a similar approach to League of Legends, where all major events are very much controlled by Riot, or would you take a more relaxed approach?
Sherman: “If you look at any of them, I don’t think they have a model that best describes the way we support the fighting game space. They all have a unique model that fits the needs of that game and the ecosystem. I think Evo is the one for Evo. For example, I think Riot will support Evo.
“I think we’re going to get into this scenario – like Teamfight Tactics, where we do work with grassroots, but there really isn’t that much grassroots [events]. The span of fighting games requires you to approach this problem in a different way. We really want to make sure that the ecosystem here works with our game and grows it in the way that the community thinks is best. We want to be a partner in building that, and I think that might be a little different than what other publishers are doing, but it’s the way we want to work in this space.
VG247: You’ve mentioned before that a lot of your work so far has been about hosting events. What were your main findings from this?
Sherman: “I think my favorite is, and I’ve been playing fighting games for a long time. Super Smash Bros. in particular, I’m deep into the grassroots Super Smash Bros. scene. I know there are some similarities. You Why are the elements here so different?
VG247: In that regard, you’ve seen other esports historically have had funding issues, while fighting games have seen slow but steady growth due to things like the emergence of in-person culture. Is it safe to say that this is an approach you appreciate compared to franchised esports, especially in these trying times? Building an eSports scene right now must be a nightmare.
Sherman: “I can’t speak for the industry as a whole; I can speak for Riot. As esports, we do put a lot of investment into building our games, and we see it as part of the overall experience. Building a league is important for Legends, Valorant, or With Teamfight Tactics, we need to invest in the same way, which may be more expensive, but allows us to deliver an experience to players when we get a new game, we go back to what the experience is that we’re trying to build, the whole of it. What that looks like and whether it’s the right way for us to go into this space.
“So it’s not daunting. I would say it’s not daunting because at our core we’re still thinking about how to create the best experience for players around the world and how to enter a genre with our unique style. […] Although there are some challenging things going on in the industry, we are still very happy to be able to provide support.
VG247: Do you think it’s fair to say that the investment cost in the fighting game scene is relatively cheap? As you said, these events already exist and communities already host tournaments themselves.
Sherman: “I think that means you have to think about your investment differently. I don’t know if that means it’s a lot cheaper. What it means is, if I don’t have to build this campaign from scratch, the support is actually For example, how do you produce content? How do we leverage broadcast studios and production facilities around the world to produce more content?
VG247: You’ve talked a lot about additivity, just to help clarify what kind of support you’re referring to? Help promote upcoming events on the Riot channel, create content around tournaments, that sort of thing?
Sherman: “These are just a range of possibilities, but none of them are what we’re going to do. I would say we want this experience to reflect what’s going on in the community.”
VG247: In the past, competitors were contractually locked into playing the games of their choice, not just in the Riot competitive scene but in other games as well. I know a few years ago Doublelift stated on stream that he wanted to compete at Evo but was unable to due to such restrictions. Since fighting games have such an open competitive culture, with many competitors signing up for multiple tournaments at the same time, will this be in place?
Sherman: “I would describe this as, if we’re not running events or running a franchise system, we’re not in a position to say whether or not a player is going to compete in both. We think that’s part of the reason why fighting games are very Great. Can be expanded to other areas.
Starting August 8th, 2XKO will be available to players who undergo alpha lab testing.
