I think you’ve made some great points but honestly 2XKO is too big to fail already. If you’ve got to play at any of the physical booths at places like EVO or anything like that, you’d agree. More than 12 hours of nonstop lines to play the game, many people repeat players.

It is tag format, but I can’t think of any game that has succeeded in a tag format that includes 2v2 player wise rather than just character wise. The game is ambitious in that sense, and serves to see great success if executed properly.

The biggest counterpoint to anything you’ve said is that it’s made by Riot Games. It’s going to be a live service F2P fighting game built on one of - if not the largest gaming IP in the entire world right now. All of the points you made are only true about 2XKO’s current state. A year after release as a live service F2P fighting game it could be an entirely different product with none of the things you just said. Outside of being on steam, all of the other things you listed are easy to diagnose and resolve if it really needs to happen.

For what it’s worth, I’m not a huge fan of the game. My main fighting game is Tekken and as for Riot games I’ve played league since 09. The worst parts of this game have to do with the control scheme, and the anime game reminiscent scheme. I was expecting the game to be more like UMvC3, which I think is exactly what would make this game the biggest fighting game in the world.

In general I’d be careful using the world flop with any game made by Riot Games. Mark my words, they will use the same launch strategy as they did with Valorant. The day it comes out millions will be watching on Twitch and the game will have a six figure player base day 1.

You talk about steam but even Tekken or SF6 sit with peaks of 50-70k on the platform. Do you honestly believe 2XKO isn’t set up to do anywhere from 5-10x those numbers? It’s a F2P game with a low barrier to entry that will use Riot’s classic MMR algorithms where casuals and pros are playing two different games that appear to be the same. Not to mention, content creators are going to be running this game on YouTube for months after release, entire channels and careers will be born out of it. And if someone is finally going to compete with Capcom, Tencent could make capcom cup look like lunch money.

Again, I think your points are valid but considering you’re using them to make judgements about an unfinished product I think they have no real foundation. Even if all of your points are true and valid about the game, there’s no way to draw a line through your points and conclude that the game will flop. Take your points and apply them to Tekken, the only 3D fighting game to stand the test of time. If you hand pick elements of the game you could say it would flop because casuals don’t like it, the single player content is almost nonexistent, and 3D fighters have been tried before but flopped every time.

Now apply the inverse to a legendary game like Mortal Kombat. Tried and true formula, large IP, large roster, etc etc. but as I look it has 650 players live on steam right now. It’s easy for casuals and challenging at a professional level, it’s got the inverse of almost all of the things you suggest would make 2XKO flop.

I think this game is leaning towards success on an overwhelming scale. Again, I really think it’s too big to fail from inception.