If you can believe in it, 2XKO is almost out. With the closed beta coming to PC this September, Riot Games' fighting game will soon be in the hands of the public, as will the initial roster of (at least) eight characters plucked from the world of League of Legends.

The initial eight are faithful, gratifying, and profound in their mechanical complexity. A portion of the fighting game community has attached another word to the roster, though: boring. Or at least, unsurprising. As time has moved on, more and more 'poster children' for League of Legends have made their way to the roster, leaving those with a hunger for freaky picks at the farther edges of the IP a tad concerned.

So, to find out why the 2XKO developer has chosen to play it safe, or whether it believes it’s even played it safe to begin with, Eurogamer sat down with both executive producer Tom Cannon and game director Shaun Rivera at Evo 2025. It was at this event that 2XKO would host its final public event demo before the game would have a permanent presence on players' computers at homes.

The following interview was with both Tom Cannon and Shaun Rivera separately, though their answers have been combined under shared questions for clarity. Speaking to Eurogamer, both Cannon and Riviera dig into why the team picked the champs in the current roster, why the focus on 'poster child' champs over some beloved deep cuts, how big a part popularity of a champion played in their inclusion, and when players can expect some of the weirder picks form the LoL universe to make an appearance.

Eurogamer: Why did the team pick these eight characters for the initial roster?

Tom Cannon: So we started from scratch on this right? We went from building the team from scratch, then all the technology from scratch, then figuring out what the game was. We started out with characters that are broad enough to have a healthy meta - in terms of gameplay. So we have our zoner, we have our striker. But, from a development perspective, there's a lot to do to build a lot of those wacky characters that people want like monsters and things like that. Just from a tech, art, and rigging / animation perspective. If we tried to do all of it at once, it would be very difficult.

Now that the game is coming into focus, after we've made the latest changes in Alpha Lab 2, I think the core game is in a really great spot, we're starting to be more adventurous with the sorts of characters we'll build. One of the reasons we're in the League of Legends IP is because we have so many wacky different characters! Mages, Robots, Yordles! I want that breadth in our roster eventually, so you're gonna see a lot more of that eventually.

Eurogamer: In terms of the specific choice of champions you've picked, the characters not the play styles, it's safe to say you've picked many of the 'poster child' League of Legends characters. Is there a reason you picked those as opposed to other characters that are also humanoids, but are also a bit weirder?

Cannon: Yeah (pause). It's a mix. I think, you know, we do have the poster children. But we wanted to make sure there were some surprises, or characters that do have a sharp thematic. That's why Illaoi made it into the mix, the sort of tentacle magic and that stuff is something that stands out but is also a humanoid character.

So there are so many factors that go into the roster we've chosen, and you could probably change every single character and swap them out with different ones, and you'd have a roster that was strong in different ways. Especially in these early stages, it's really subjective.

Eurogamer: Talk about some of those factors

Cannon: Sure! We wanted a range of sizes, power fantasies, mechanics, and fighting game archetypes. We also wanted to make sure we understood how to capture all the different roles in League. That's where Braum came from! How do we make a support? The super important thing for us is that every single character has to fight on their own. When they're on point, they have to feel powerful and not like they have to stand on the sideline.

One thing we didn't consider as much as you might think is regional diversity. That's because… a lot of the players who are going to get into this game at first aren't as familiar with the League IP as people who are familiar with Riot Games. What's Ionia, or Noxus? They don't know! I think the opportunity to learn the champions better and better, we can dig more into what it means to be an Ionian champion. One thing I'd like to do down the road is develop an aesthetic sense on what an Ionian fighting style is. Just like how Shotos in Street Fighter have their own signature moves. I'm excited to get there, but for now it's about getting a stable roster.

Shaun Rivera: One of the things we talk about a lot is that we really want to make sure there's a champ that a player can see in our game and say, that's my main. Maybe it's something visual, maybe it's something visual, or a voice line, or a mechanic. But something that draws them in, and that's their main they fall in love with. Ideally, they find another one and have a team now. For us it was about having a diverse enough roster where there's enough unique thematic and mechanical elements across this cast so there's different things to try.

Eurogamer: Did the popularity of these characters play into it? It's safe to say that the roster we have is composed of many 'poster child' characters from the League IP, rather than many deep cuts.

Cannon: Oh for sure! It's not that they're popular in League, because we're targeting fighting game fans first right? But those characters tend to have a hook or appeal that works really well in a fighting game. Just by nature of them being really incredible characters, it made for natural picks.

Rivera: I think some characters are popular for a reason, y'know. It's their fight style, attitude, and how they look. For us, part of it is how cool can we make this in a fighting game? How much can we elevate it, so when you see it you go, yeah of course they can do that even though you've never seen them do it before.

You said the League IP has a lot of variety, and I couldn't agree more! There are 160+ characters! They come in all shapes and sizes, they're monsters and all kinds of stuff. People are often like, 'why isn't champ X in the game, why isn't champ Y'?

Humanoids are definitely easier, let's be real about it, but no champ is off the table. Wait till you see what's coming

Eurogamer: So you picked this initial roster because you wanted to hit these popular characters first just to get a wider spread of people in at launch, then later you can add in the more obscure characters once you have people in?

Rivera: I think it's less about us wanting to pick popular champions, and more whether there's a playstyle we want to get into the game because a lot of people like that playstyle. Then it's like, cool, which champion fits that style best. Is there a theme we want to get into the game, which champ fits that? Then there's a visual mechanical diversity that's really important.

Yeah we absolutely want to take advantage of the richness of the League IP, and get all kinds of stuff in the game in the future.

Eurogamer: You did earlier say that popularity is a factor.

Rivera: Absolutely. So we wanted to get a high mobility champion in the game that can really take to the sky and mix you up in the air. Ahri definitely makes sense in that role right? She's magical, high-mobility, and elegant in that way. Some are just a perfect fit to the puzzle piece. Also, a lot of people like her.

Eurogamer: We know publicly there will be the eight characters we see today in the closed beta. Will there be a freaky pick in the base launch roster?

Cannon: I think you're going to start seeing those wacky characters coming in the mix after closed beta.

Rivera: Do you want to see a freaky pick? What do you consider a freaky pick?

Eurogamer: Well before you worked at Riot you were a very good Tekken player. In Tekken it's martial arts focused, but you have Jack, you have King, and exceptionally weird fighters like Roger Jr. So will there be a character that speaks to fans of that sort of off-beat pick?

Rivera: I can't spoil anything, but I can say wait and see. I'll say this. It's no accident that you're asking this question. There's a strong desire for people who want to play this character that is not just a typical human doing human things. It's part of the fantasy! I want to do something that's a little strange, a little different. We absolutely want to deliver on that, and I'm very excited for the champions that we have coming up.