Featuring League of Legends champions alongside brighter beatdowns, Riot Games’ new 2v2 fighter 2XKO is bringing the fight across PC and consoles.
A true expert at building worlds and telling stories with music, scoring 2XKO’s melee brawl is iconic composer Jesse Zuretti.
We recently caught up with Jesse Zuretti to talk music, Marvel, and more – get fight ready with our interview.
It’s a huge honor!
I appreciate it – I’m the one who feels honored!
I saw on your Twitter header you’re throwing down in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 – great taste! I was just listening to a jazz fusion rendition of the soundtrack – so good!
I’m sure you’re a huge fan of fighters, but I’d like to know:
What drew you to working on 2XKO?
Believe it or not, 2XKO came to me! It was kind of a perfect storm…
Aside from the music style being kind of perfect – or music concept being perfect – I’ve always loved fighting games.
I’m not a pro by any means – I just enjoy the games.
I think they are so much fun, and it’s such a cool way to experience playing characters that you like.
Honestly, if I did know about 2XKO and was offered an opportunity in the future to work on it after seeing it, I would have been beyond excited one way or the other.
It was just such a great opportunity to make all the right things happen at the right time.
I know exactly what you’re talking about!
I interviewed MarkMan a couple of years ago – I said I’m better than a Ken flowchart, but I’m not EVO ready. [laughs]
I’m terrified of EVO – the players are unbelievable!
I’m very impressed with their skill though!
On that note, talking about the soundtrack – it’s incredible work!
You’ve got stuff like Jinx’s “Scrap Metal,” but that’s completely different compared to Teemo’s “Brighter Beatdown” – they play one after another on Spotify!
While both great, they couldn’t be more different – you have such a wide range.
What was it like coming up with so many different themes for each of these characters?
Thank you for saying I have a wide range – I really appreciate that!
That is definitely something that I work at very actively to expand – the range is constantly growing.
The greatest purpose I find in music is just finding more inspiration outside what I already know.
It’s great to hear that from somebody!
It’s interesting to be able to kind of gear shift a little bit and cross into different territories while kind of hybridizing things at the same time.
It can be a little bit tricky, and it doesn’t come easily right away.
There’s a lot of learning process involved in like building language with Riot and our Audio Director.
Our Principal Composer Mike Pitman guides us as much as humanly possible to make sure we’re on the right track and that things are moving in the right direction.
And Eugene Kang, who’s our Audio Director, is a former fighting game pro – I would consider him a current fighting game pro too! He’s incredible.
We have such good guidance, so it makes it a little easier for us to know if we’re reaching into the right bag of tricks to make things make sense.
Honestly, I think a lot of the skill set of being able to like work on linear themes for characters – and in this particular instance, character themes and stage themes.
A lot of it comes from just my background – I fortunately got to work collaboratively with Marvel for quite a long time, almost five years.
I was able to work with characters pretty early on and understand that aspect of turning the appearance – the look of the armor and the weapons and everything – into the vibe of the music.
It definitely helped a lot with 2XKO, but I think it just helps to listen to a lot of music.
I’m such a nerd about music – I care more about music than any other facet of life beyond family and friends! It’s the number one thing for me.
I’m constantly researching, listening, and exploring – it’s how you build language.
That’s kind of where it all starts!
That leads to my next point…
I did get a chance to check out “Cooking with Galactus,” along with Galactus’ theme song!
I know Galactus is your favorite character, and loved your lines like “tremble in terror!”
With Earth Day, that’s great – it’s in lockstep with everything!
How did the whole Marvel stuff come to fruition?
That’s the number one question I’ve been asked over the last eight years!
A lot of people ask:
“How do you even get in the door with a company like that?”
Kind of like any opportunity, it’s all about meeting people, being human, and building relationships, instead of just building opportunities.
If you focus too much on opportunities instead of the closeness and the genuine aspect of having a good interaction with a human being, you get to the core of some common denominators that might lead to opportunities.
That’s kind of what happened with Marvel!
I was fortunate enough to meet somebody at Marvel who invested their confidence in me based on the music that they had heard me make with my band Binary Code I started back in high school in 2004, believe it or not.
In late 2017 or early 2018, it finally came down to,
“Hey, do you want to write some music for my company?”
And that company was Marvel!
Of course, it was crazy and terrifying. At the time I was just a Creative Director working for a musical instrument company, playing in a band, going on tour.
That was my lane at the time – I’m going to be a touring pro musician – from high school to around 2017-2018.
Then that just turns into like,
“Hey, you want to do the voice for your favorite character in the entire Marvel Universe since you were a kid?”
“Of course I do!”
It turned into an opportunity, and then it just became consistent work, contracts, and all that stuff. It was pretty incredible!
That’s kind of like the story of my life.
Honestly, it’s kind of also the story of 2XKO – it’s just about relationship building, trust, and being genuine.
It’s so people know that the person that they’re hiring is who shows up to actually do the job.
I like that word – genuine!
I use that a lot too, and also say “strength in community.”
We’re all people, and we’re all passionate about the space – I totally get it!
Yeah!
Not to mention, the tightness of the community of gaming is so familiar to me.
I feel new to the game world – I’ve only been working on the soundtrack since 2023.
That’s not a long time, even though it’s taken me a long time to have music come out.
When you think about how deep a lot of the people who have been developing games, that’s a really long history!
I’m the new guy here, and I can tell you with certainty that the closest I’ve felt to community since I started composing full-time has been the game audio world and the game dev world.
I just love the people of this community – it’s so genuine and authentic!
That’s why I keep using that term – it feels very real and rooted in the right reasons.
I’d love to see you at an event like GDC!
You’ll see me – I’ll be there!
Fantastic – I got my media badge!
Yeah, the people there are so genuine and there’s just so much heart – I love that word too.
I love San Francisco!
We’ve been to GDC – this will be our third time this year. My wife and I go – she works on 2XKO as well!
It’s one of my favorite places to go – I love the Little Italy area and all the people you can run into. It’s the best experience!
Yeah!
I have to give a shoutout to the people you composed the soundtrack with – Casey Edwards, Joe Ford, Zac Zinger, and Tre Watson all did fantastic work as well!
What was like working with them?
They were great!
Zac contributed to Yasuo’s theme.
Tre did the main theme and the character select – and that is the catchiest, most earworm-inducing piece of music that I’ve heard in recent history!
It’s stuck in my head all the time whenever I hear it – it’s unfair!
And Casey Edwards is just the best!
It’s the best name ever!
It’s like a household name when he was born!
Casey is just the greatest guy, and his ability to create melodies that represent feeling, vibe, and character is unparalleled.
I don’t know many people who can do it as well as him. It’s such an immense skill set that he has, and he’s so passionate about what he’s doing, and he takes so much care of the things that he does.
And then John Scherer is our lobby music composer – he’s just out of this world!
He’s also a member of Ash & Ether, which is the audio team I started with my wife Sydney – our orchestrator for 2XKO!
It’s just been incredible.
Not a lot of people are going to see Rich Thompson and Michael Pitman’s names on the soundtrack – they’re both in-house composers for Riot. They kind of live in the credits a little bit, unfortunately – but those two are two of the most talented people I know!
Mike Pitman has been the guiding light for us through all of this. His music knowledge, his ability to perceive things, his ability to hear changes we make…
I could turn off something, and he’ll be like,
“Did you turn something off?”
He’ll know everything!
It’s been exceptional to grow with these people. It’s been very collaborative brand power wise, it’s been a lot of ears on our music over these years.
For almost two years, we would meet once a week as a team and just hang out, talk, and guide one another.
It’s been incredible! I’ve come out a better musician and composer because of these people, so it’s been amazing.
On that note, what was it like collaborating with Polyphia on the main theme “Let’s Go” – that “holy sh!t” moment you’re talking about?
I saw on Spotify it’s got close to a million plays!
You’ve all definitely got your fans, yeah?
Well, Polyphia brings a big chunk of that, that’s for sure – those dudes are so incredibly talented.
I got to watch them play in person at Riot HQ, and they were teaching Shaun, who’s basically the Director of 2XKO.
They were teaching Shaun how to play some of the tracks.
It was kind of mind-blowing, because I’m a guitar player – from the metal guitar world, specifically.
And I watched Polyphia perform like that.
To see them in person and play was crazy – it was almost mythological!
It’s like,
“Wait a minute. I just saw the golden fleece!
This is real – they can do this in real life. This is crazy!”
They’re so humble, such nice dudes. They’re so funny, and just good people.
It was incredible to have them kind of take the reins of the main theme that I had started and just turn it into this.
I get this feeling of like they almost wrote like a Queen song – it feels like Queen.
It’s like,
“Did Queen just get reincarnated through music with Polyphia in this track?!”
It’s just so big and epic, and such a cool piece of music.
Considering it’s kind of minimalist, there are not a lot of layers – like a lot of 2XKO. But that track feels big, and they just did an amazing job – it was an absolute blast.
And they belong in video games! Their music is perfect for it, and their brains are perfect for it.
I hope they keep doing more of it!
I saw on your website you do music for everything!
You mentioned that when it comes to video games, you’re fairly new to the space.
But then there’s also trailers, marketing – you mentioned the Marvel stuff. That’s really impressive, that’s very dynamic – I use that word too!
What’s it like adapting your sound for each industry?
Are there any left-field moments you’re particularly proud of, like maybe a soap commercial with a heavy guitar riff?
You know, I would be lying if the music that I’ve made for marketing and promoting products was something I’m artistically proud of…
I think those were things that you do along the way, defining your career.
Much as I’m grateful for the opportunities to line my path with those opportunities, I feel better working on things that are made with passion and genuine care – like video game developers specifically like to do.
My left-field moments have definitely been within those passion segments of my career.
It might come off like all I care about is 2XKO, but it’s my magnum opus in a lot of ways!
A lot of this music is the hardest thinking I’ve done; it’s the hardest playing, it’s the hardest composing.
I’ve put so much time and sweat into the tracks!
The character tracks in the soundtrack are left-field for me – Teemo in particular, and Ahri.
That was a good one!
Thank you!
Yeah, Brighter Beatdown and Race Across Ionia are two tracks that I don’t think anybody who has been following me that doesn’t know me on a one-to-one level would be very surprised by.
I think, from the objective perspective, 2XKO is the left-field – I’m so proud of it!
And I’m proud of everybody else’s work the most. Honestly, I’m just so proud of like Tre and John and Casey and Pitman and Rich Thompson’s music.
It’s just so good – I just enjoy it! I love the people behind the game.
It’s my left-field big time.
Games is left-field for me in a lot of ways, but I’m all-in.
My wife and I are obsessed with games – we play games every single day and have multiple Steam Decks, Switches, everything! We won’t go a day without games – I’ll tell you that much.
I’m just really grateful to be here, and also meeting people like you.
It’s a mutual respect, you know?
I live with my heart on my sleeve, so I just tell it like it is.
Even these interviews that I’ve been doing with people are so genuine, you know.
I come from the music making world, so I come from a place where there are just nerds aplenty – there are deep music snobs and elitists, and I love that.
There’s the same thing in games, and I love it so much!
So talking GDC, I interviewed Grant Kirkhope last year at the event – he’s done a wide range of stuff too!
Comparing the DK Rap to the GoldenEye pause music, they couldn’t be more different – and both are so good! I asked him if there is any particular style of music he always wanted to try…
Asking you the same question, is there any particular music that you’ve always wanted to try?
To be completely honest with you, I think I’m doing a lot of that!
A lot of the bucket list stuff is getting scratched off, along with a lot of stuff that I didn’t think I would want to try.
I will say that if I have a goal going forward, I would really like to explore anime.
Specifically, I’m a huge fan of Made in Abyss, and the soundtrack that Kevin Penkin did for it. I think it’s one of the best pieces of music I’ve heard in my entire life.
It’s easily a top 15 soundtrack of all time – for me, it’s just so incredible.
If I ever got an opportunity to do something like that, I just hear so many common denominators in his palette and his chord vocabulary. What a dream – I want to do that someday!
Game-wise, I would love to work on a JRPG or even a Soulslike.
We’re big fans of Bloodborne and Elden Ring, but also we’re playing Genshin Impact right now.
Stuff like that is just right up my alley for growing and also satisfying, an itch that I need to scratch.
I can only hope that, in the years to come, I get opportunities to do stuff like that. It seems like so much fun, and it’s such a beautiful way to communicate music.
Wherever the music goes from those opportunities, I’ll come in and do what needs to be done.
But that’s a field I’d really like to pursue!
I think you got it!
It’s a small industry, and there’s a lot of overlap with the anime space – especially when it comes to professional voice actors.
There’s also labels like Scarlet Moon that cover anime like Demon Slayer alongside games.
Finally, I have to ask: Who are your current mains when it comes to 2XKO?
It’s probably a little controversial…
I haven’t played 2XKO a lot since I’m still writing music and there’s still work to do.
So when I do play, I’ve been just playing as Ekko and Darius – they’re available right away, so you don’t have to unlock them.
Of course, I’m going to switch out to Teemo at some point and just see how he runs a little bit.
Everybody’s going to hate me who plays me, but I just love his design and his vibe in the game so much that I’m probably going to switch to him at some point.
But yeah, I’m definitely an Ekko stan big time. I just love his character, his background, his moves, his specials, everything.
It’s just kind of my thing – and of course it’s cool to hear your own music come on when you’re playing characters.
But that’s not even the reason!
I truly think that his character is really unique – he kind of reminds me of Deadpool from MvC. Throwing Ekko’s pineapple grenades feels a little bit familiar.
But 2XKO is such a hard game! The players are insane – they’re so talented!
Who do you usually play?
I’m just starting out, and tried out the characters that were currently unlocked.
You mentioned Darius – I did try him out, and I liked him as a heavy-hitter.
But I love the speedy stuff – you get a little bit of a balance with Yasuo!
Yasuo has got those Wolverine vibes – I love them!
I really appreciate the time – I have nothing but respect for Rioters!
They’re great people!
Please do connect, and let’s stay in touch. I mean it, truly – and I hope to meet you at GDC!
I’ll see you in March!
Feeling social?
Be sure to follow Jesse Zuretti via his official Twitter/X, Instagram, and YouTube social media channels, and check out his official website!
One can download 2XKO for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC – learn more via its official website.
Thank you to PR for arranging this interview, and Jesse Zuretti for his time!
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