2XKO, Riot Games’ free-to-play League of Legends fighting game, released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles yesterday after roughly 18 months of closed beta tests. While it’s too early to comment on the overall quality of 2XKO’s gameplay, PlayStation 5 players aren’t too impressed with its performance.
After roughly 18 months of closed betas and “Alpha Lab” playtests, Riot Games has finally released its beginner-friendly, free-to-play (but microtransaction-heavy) fighting game 2XKO in full. There’s no critical consensus regarding 2XKO yet. At launch there aren’t even any reviews of the console version. But I sunk a couple of hours into it this morning and can confirm that it’s still just as good as it was during the last closed beta.
Little caveat there: I played on PC. 2XKO has technically been available on PC in early access since October 7, 2025, but only officially launched on Xbox Series S/X and PS5 on January 20. This is relevant because, according to the numerous posts that have popped up on the r/2XKO subreddit over the past 24 hours, the PS5 version of the game has a few performance-related issues.
2XKO on PS5 might be the roughest I’ve ever seen a fighting game launch. Extreme screen tearing in fights, lags in matches and in lobbies, horrible monetization.
There’s a great fighting game here but it’s dying by 1000 cuts. pic.twitter.com/w4jT0pyN5m
— reyna cervantes (@Jfcdoomblade) January 21, 2026
As detailed in the most active PS5-related thread on the subreddit, titled “Game runs like total ass on the ps5,” PlayStation players have reported that they’re experiencing crashes, frequent FPS drops and, most commonly, heavy screen tearing.
“I’m not having FPS drops (though I’m on PS5 Pro), but the screen tearing is horrendous,” writes user trugay. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen on a console title. It makes this a fairly disappointing release. I’m enjoying the game and its mechanics, but this is really dampening the experience.”
Over on Twitter, user Jfcdoomblade uploaded a clip of the FPS drops in action and stated that “2XKO on PS5 might be the roughest I’ve ever seen a fighting game launch.”
Oddly enough, I was unable to find any similar complaints from Xbox Series users. In fact, the only Xbox-related thread I could find was from one user gushing about how much fun they’re having.
It’s important to note here that the screen tearing issue can’t be properly replicated through recorded footage, as screen tearing occurs through the monitor used to display the image. PS5 owners have theorized that the screen tearing issue in 2XKO may only occur when the game is played on a 120hz screen.
If you’re confused as to why the same issue isn’t popping up for PC players who are using 120hz monitors, PS5 users have further theorized that this may be due to an issue with how v-sync has been implemented on the PlayStation 5 version of 2XKO.
