Super Smash Bros. Clone of League of Legends Reportedly Cancelled at Riot

A new report has claimed that Riot Games recently scrapped a platform fighter similar to Super Smash Bros. that would have featured characters from the League of Legends universe. At this point in time, Riot is already working on a fighting game with 2XKO, which is a tag fighter tied to League of Legends. While 2XKO already has quite a bit of excitement surrounding it, Riot previously seemed to want to double down on this genre further. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like the secondary fighting game project will ever see the light of day. 

In a story from reporter Mikhail Klimentov, it was said that Riot Games canceled a title that it was internally called “Pool Party” in May of this year. Pool Party was described as a platform fighter with League of Legends champions that would be akin to Super Smash Bros. Melee. Development on the game is said to have reached between 70 and 80 members before those in charge at Riot opted to kill the project. 

When it comes to the reason behind ending work on this endeavor, it was reported that Riot had a “reassessment of consumer appetite” for games similar to Super Smash Bros. Specifically, Riot was said to have been “spooked” by the level of interest in MultiVersus, the new platform fighter from WB Games. To those at Riot, MultiVersus has reportedly been seen as a “failure”, which led the company to believe that there wouldn’t be much interest in Pool Party. Whether or not this sentiment is accurate we’ll never know, but it’s ultimately what led to the game’s demise. 

As for 2XKO, work on the tag fighter is nearing its completion and is set to release at some point in 2025. Additional reporting has since claimed that Riot could release its fighting game spin-off in as early as January of this coming year. In the near term, 2XKO will hold its first public playtest for the title next month between August 8th and 19th. Those interested in taking part can sign-up right now on the game’s official website across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.