Riot Games was working on a League of Legends-based platform fighter inspired by Super Smash Bros. Melee, but reportedly finally decided to cancel the project in late May.

The information about the unannounced project came from journalist Mikhail Klimentov, who said that approximately 70-80 people were working on the game when Riot decided to cancel the project in late May. Codenamed "Pool Party," the game was originally conceived as a hardcore fighting game, but evolved during the development process into something more casual with "party game elements."

Joe Hixson, communications director at Riot, told Klimentov, "We have numerous projects that are constantly in various stages of research and development, and the ups and downs of projects happen several times a year.

According to the report, Riot apparently envisioned Pool Party as another way to enhance the League of Legends esports scene, but was passed over when MultiVersus did not take off as originally hoped. In fact, while we quite liked MultiVersus when it first appeared in 2022 and it was very popular, the unexpected announcement in 2023 that it was "just a beta version" and then having to wait nearly a year for its return did MultiVersus no favors.

MultiVersus had over 110,000 concurrent players on Steam when it relaunched in May, but that number quickly dwindled: 4,750 people are currently playing on Steam, which is much more than "Suicide Squad" 4,750 people are currently playing on Steam, which is way more than "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League", but far from a blockbuster.

Another possible factor in the decision to pull the plug could be Riot's other League-based fighting game, 2XKO (pronounced "Tooksko," by the way).

Riot sources told PC Gamer that the pool party project had actually already been in intermittent development for years, preceded by games like "All-Star Brawl" and "MultiVersus," and that MultiVersus not directly behind the decision to cancel the project, Riot noted that the genre in general has struggled to retain players. He also said that despite the time spent on the project, Pool Party was not at the stage where it would be seriously considered as an esport.

Riot has been trying to branch out beyond League of Legends for several years, with spin-offs like Ruined King, Bandle Tale, Legends of Runeterra, and Mageseeker. The effort has had mixed success: while these games have generally been well received, they have not been big hits, and Riot shut down its Riot Forge publishing label earlier this year because it wanted to focus on "fewer, more impactful projects."