League of Legends Developer Reportedly Canceled One of Its Games

Highlights

Riot Games reportedly canceled an unannounced game code-named Pool Party.
Pool Party is said to have been envisioned as a platform fighter in the League of Legends universe similar to the Super Smash Bros. series, albeit with a much more friendly attitude toward eSports.
The shelved project is unrelated to 2XKO, another League of Legends fighting game spin-off that’s presently targeting a 2025 release.

Riot Games has canceled an unannounced project code-named Pool Party, according to a newly emerged report. The purportedly shelved title is said to have been a fighting game set in the League of Legends universe.

While that description also matches that of the League of Legends spin-off 2XKO, formerly known as Project L, the two are understood to be unrelated. 2XKO, which is still in active development, is being pitched as a 2v2 tag-team fighting game, whereas Pool Party was reportedly envisioned as a platform fighter in the vein of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series.

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That’s all according to a new report by The Washington Post’s Mikhail Klimentov, which states that Riot Games canceled Pool Party in late May 2024, citing people familiar with the matter. It’s unclear at what exact stage of development the game was at the time of its alleged cancellation. But it was ostensibly in active production, as “approximately 70-80” staffers were already attached to the unannounced platform fighter immediately prior to its shelving, as per the same source. Riot Games Senior Director of Corporate Communications Joe Hixson did not outright confirm this report, but told Klimentov that “spinning projects up and down” is something that the company does multiple times every year.

Approximately half of the Pool Party team is said to have been offered roles on other Riot projects following the cancellation. The game itself was supposedly greenlit in a bid to offer a platform fighter that is more eSports-friendly than Nintendo, which frequently shuts down Super Smash Bros. competitions rather than supporting them. However, the concept is understood to have changed during development, with Pool Party eventually implementing unspecified “casual-friendly mechanics” and party elements, much to the frustration of some staffers.

MultiVersus Reportedly Contributed to Pool Party’s Cancellation

Riot’s views on Pool Party‘s viability supposedly changed as of late, with Klimentov reporting that the studio’s leadership started suspecting that there may not be enough consumer interest in such a project. This perspective shift is said to have started after Warner Bros’ MultiVersus beta came to an unceremonious end in 2023, which the company perceived as a failure that indicates its own project may not be as viable as originally thought.

This turn of events shouldn’t significantly affect the release pace of new LoL spin-offs. Eight such games have hit the market since 2019, with Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story being the newest of the lot, having debuted in February 2024. The aforementioned 2XKO 2v2 fighting game is currently targeting a 2025 release.