Riot Games Cancelled It, But Hytale Returns: Original Creator Buys Back IP for Early Access Launch

By Scarlet Deng Gaming News
18 November 2025 no comments

Despite what the most pessimistic might think, the game Hytale is indeed coming back from the dead since Riot Games has ceded the rights to the license to Simon Collins-Laflamme, one of its original creators.

This is excellent news for this clone of Minecraft, which has experienced a very tumultuous development. A brief recap of the facts.

Hytale: Ambitions and Development Delays

If you missed it, know that the Hytale project was first presented in 2019 by Hypixel Studios, a true melting pot of former modders and already somewhat known developers. Backed by millions of views on YouTube, the first trailer gained unprecedented momentum, to the point of prompting Riot Games to buy its studio in 2020.

Alas, after a gestation bogged down for 10 years, Riot had declared they were stopping costs last June. We could have stopped there, as is too often the case, but lucky break: negotiations between Simon Collins-Laflamme and Riot apparently went well, leading to today’s announcement.

The Return: “Hytale is saved”

And pay attention: we are not just talking about a simple rights purchase. The game now belongs 100% to its creators. The Hypixel team was thus able to rehire more than thirty employees who know the project inside out, and even better, other returns are already planned.

Things are not being done half-heartedly, since the post already talks about an investment for the next 10 years on the game. We necessarily maintain a certain restraint regarding this promise, but it is still something significant. And as proof of this good faith, information about the project is already speeding up a bit:

• a release date will soon be announced for the early access
• the release will first be on PC, but Mac / Linux versions will be attempted, then versions for other platforms will arrive later
• the price will be announced in the coming days
• the early access will be rough, with bugs, unbalanced content, and frequent updates
• the early access will last several years
• the Exploration, Creative, and modding modes will already be available
• mini-games and Adventure mode will arrive later
• the game will reuse its previous engine, to ensure faster development

A Future Finally Set for Hytale

So be careful, this does not mean that the long desert crossing is over, neither for the players nor for the developers. But at least, the project should be playable soon, and in all honesty, that is already extraordinary.

Scarlet Deng

Scarlet Deng has been dispensing JV advice and recommendations for many years, and her ancestral wisdom is invaluable. Some might be tempted to classify her as a "new recruit", but given her PC knowledge and her passion for hairy RPGs, her admirers recognize her more as a "teacher" or "senpai". In fact, here we simply prefer "grandma" to better reflect her benevolence: since her reflexes have gone soft, Doom Eternal has largely given way to Stardew Valley...

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