Riot Games reportedly canceled the development of their Smash Bros.-style fighter game in May this year. This decision was made after Warner Bros. developed a similar game that ended up being a commercial flop.
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Riot Games, the studio behind popular games League of Legends and Valorant, intended to develop a new game featuring the characters in its universe. The game was selected to boost the developer’s presence on the esports scene. However, Riot scrapped the project even before releasing the game.
Riot Games made a business decision
Riot Games reportedly halted development of a Smash Bros. Melee-style platform fighter in late May 🛑
Codename "Pool Party" was set in the League of Legends universe and had 70-80 people working on it when it was canceled. pic.twitter.com/reLElD4Nh6
— esports (@esports) July 10, 2024
Codenamed “Pool Party,” the project started as a hardcore fighting game before the company shifted its development into a more fun-oriented approach. However, Riot Games reportedly halted in May this year after reassessing the consumer’s need and reception to such a game.
The decision came after Riot observed the financial performance of a similar game, titled MultiVersus, released by Warner Bros. MultiVersus featured Smash Bros. style party game elements and casual-friendly game mechanics. Smash Bros experienced commercial success, something that both Riot Games and Warner Bros tried to replicate. However, MultiVersus performed poorly once it hit the market.
According to Mikhail Klimentov, a former Washington Post video sports and esports editor, reported that Riot Games has assigned half of the project’s 70-80 employees to other ongoing game development projects. The other employees were also reported to be seeking new positions in the company’s internal job board.
Riot Games continues its other game projects
Following the cancellation of the Pool Party project, Riot Games assured fans that it would continue developing other games. The move to scrap the Pool Party project raised fears the developer would retract on other announced games, like Riot’s other League of Legends fighter, 2XKO. The fighter game had been previously announced in August 2022.
“We always have a number of projects in various phases of R&D, and spinning projects up and down happens multiple times a year.”
Joe Hixon
However, the developer’s senior comms director, Joe Hixon, put fans at ease by stating that the decision to halt project Pool Party was a normal stage in the company’s game development and wouldn’t affect 2XKO.