Riot Games has canceled a 2D fighting game that was similar to Super Smash Bros, according to a new report from Mikhail Klimentov.
Known internally as “Pool Party”, the game was to be set in the League of Legends universe, and was being worked on by about “70-80 employees”. The game was canceled in May.
“Riot Games saw an opportunity to build and support the game’s esports scene — unlike Nintendo, which is notoriously hands-off and even hostile toward the Smash competitive ecosystem,” the report reads.
Klimentov’s sources said that the game’s cancelation happened because of a “reassessment of consumer appetite for a Smash competitor.” He added that Riot was “spooked” by the apparent failure of MultiVersus.
Pool Party was originally slated to be a “hardcore fighting game” before the game’s scope was changed to include party elements and a more casual feel. The report states that the changes had “frustrated” people on the project.
In a statement given to Klimentov, Riot senior communication director Joe Hixson said, “We always have a number of projects in various phases of R&D, and spinning projects up and down happens multiple times a year.”
As far as the employees working on the game, at least half were moved to other projects within the company while others were looking to be moved to other projects or had left the company.
The development of Pool Part had no impact on Riot’s other fighting game 2XKO, the 2v2 fighting game scheduled for release in 2025.
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