Straight Postin it2XKO game director speaks out about the next "much smaller" online play test, a new fuse, and more ahead of February updateThe team has apparently been enjoying the "crazy memes and the hysteria" ahead of the February update.Image credit: Riot Games News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Feb. 21, 2025 2XKO game director Shaun "unconkable" Rivera has posted a lengthy statement online (first on Reddit, later on X) shutting down speculation and misinformation regarding the game and its upcoming online play test. This includes the fact that the next play test will be "much smaller" than the first Alpha Lab test.The entire statement, which you can read here, kicks off by acknowledging the "crazy memes and hysteria" of the game's official subreddit, before revealing the team were initially planning on running a larger-scale play test next month, with the February update covering this event. However, it looks like plans have changed to a smaller play test instead, while the team builds up infrastructure for a larger influx of players later this year.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Rivera also addressed the Pulse Fuse, as there have been discussions among the community of it going away. This fuse, for those who can't remember, allowed for players to mash a single button and perform a decent combo (while retaining all their usual attacks). This, it seems, has been replaced with an auto-combo setting selectable during character select. Instead, Rivera reveals more about a new fuse: Sidekick. This basically removes the ability for the two playable characters to switch at all, instead providing the point character with more health and providing the second player more of a "support" role. Think of it like Yummi in League of Legends, who is attached to another champion and assists them by throwing out abilities (in 2XKO, assists) that aid in their assault.This information seems to have been suddenly posted in response to leaks that had appeared online earlier this month (we obviously can't link to 'em here), which explains the sudden and largely unexpected post by Rivera here. He doesn't provide a date for the February update, which remains the main topic of speculation in the minds of 2XKO fans.Obviously, this post raises a bunch of questions. The first, and most pressing in my mind, is how much smaller the upcoming play test will be? The first alpha lab proved popular, with flocks of new and experienced fighting game players rushing for access. It also begs the question of why a smaller test? If I may speculate, it could be to gather data on a specific user base, perhaps to better balance the game for a wider net of players. For example, they're adding the Sidekick fuse, right? So maybe they want a smaller test aimed at a control group of 50/50 experienced and totally new testers? It's something I'm personally keen to learn more about.Then there's the decision to build infrastructure for an increased number of future players, which itself is interesting. Perhaps, given the popularity of the first Alpha Lab, the team is anticipating a very significant increase in sign ups for a future test. This on its face makes sense, we saw plenty of players left in the cold last time, and these sorts of slow builds to release tend to gain interest the closer they get to that long-awated 1.0 launch date. However the cookie crumbles, it's February 21 as of writing, which means it shouldn't be too long until we know for certain what the deal is. Still, an interesting peek into what's going on, even if it was sudden.What do you think of this new info? Does Sidekick sound like a cool new addition to you? Let us know below!