2XKO reveals itself as partially pay-to-win, with ridiculous skin prices too

2XKO’s early access has begun, bringing Teemo, Warwick, and an in-game store and Battle Pass. And the FGC is not happy with the prices.

The free-to-play 2v2 fighting game from Riot Games has been met with a lot of praise from the fighting game community, but the expensive skins has raised some alarms. While there’s a free currency, it’s currently unclear how much effort it’ll take to get it and there’s a cap on how much you can have at a time.

It’s safe to say that initial reactions were not positive.

2XKO skin prices shock FGC

Credits can be earned through completing missions and playing online matches but you can only hold 12,000 at a time. This means you’ll eventually need to spend money on KO Points to unlock more expensive skins. Nice.

KO Points can be purchased in bundles, starting at $5 for 500 KO Points up to $100 for 11,500 KO Points.

The unlocking and payments begin long before you even start buying skins. You’ll need to unlock Blitzcrank, Jinx, Teemo, Vi, and Warwick for 10,000 Credits or 1,000 KO Points. This means you’ll start the game with six champions on the roster, which is pretty abysmal. Costume colors will cost 6,500 Credits or 500 KO Points each.

It gets even more cursed when you want to buy Legendary Skin sets rotating in the shop. These are 2,000 KO Points each, which makes them about $20, depending on the bundle you get. Want the Arcane skins for Vi, Jinx, and Ekko? Now you need to buy the Ultra Pack, which is $100.

Right now, you’ll need to spend about $160 to get every cosmetic in 2XKO.

This doesn’t count paying more money for the battle pass. The Season 0 Battle Pass has three paid versions, starting at the Standard for 1,000 KO Points up to the Ultra for 3,500 KO Points. This comes with Warwick, extra skins for the werewolf, colors… Nothing worth IRL money, of course.

It’s safe to say that the FGC -already angered by Capcom making them pay to watch tournaments – is angry. Pissed off, even.

While some gamers pointed out that skins are not required to play the game, it’s more of the principle of the matter that gets to the FGC. So much for trying to show they care about the FGC. As always, this seems more about greed. Plus, it does seem a bit “pay-to-win” now, since champions have to be paid for to use them online.

I’m surprised there’s no Chipotle skin.

2XKO Executive Producer Tom Cannon said developers will be watching what content gamers pay for (and which they don’t) so they can adjust for future seasons. Let’s see if the FGC is truly angry about this or if they all just buy the skins anyway: because if you want to prove to Cannon that the prices are ridiculous, you have to NOT buy the skins.