Riot Games announced the first competitive effort for its early access fighting game, 2XKO. The first test of the game as a competitive title will be a new circuit called “First Impact” taking place across 22 international and domestic competitions handled by the community for the community. These competitions will have no qualifiers, and feature an open format.
These competitions will begin on Oct. 10 and run until Dec. 13, and include stops at EVO France, DreamHack Atlanta, and smaller, more intimate stops hosted by community organizers. A full schedule can be found here. Rio added that if a duo wins first place in any First Impact tournament, they will be eligible to claim the Duo Bounty of $2,500 USD on top of the existing pot for the competition they are at.
A list of competitions already revealed for First Impact can be found here.
Finally, Riot said that the things it learns from these tournaments will help it shape its competitive plans for 2026 and beyond. Winners will also earn an exclusive Local Legend player title for their 2XKO account.
Separately, announced that the closed beta for the game would end on Oct. 7 and early access will open up to the public. This is the roll out of the first full-featured version of the game, including a full season of content and a few new features like combo trials and a new hero. More details on the early access version of the game can be found here.