Hytale is launching into early access on January 13, 2026, which sounds routine until you learn the game was officially canceled just five months ago. Riot Games shut down Hypixel Studios in June 2025 after nearly a decade of development, laying off roughly 150 employees and killing what was supposed to be the next big sandbox game. Then original co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme bought the IP back from Riot, rehired over 30 developers, secured independent funding, and somehow managed to get the game ready for players in just over six weeks from the repurchase announcement.
This isn’t a polished 1.0 launch. Collins-Laflamme has been brutally honest that the game isn’t good yet. The early access build will be buggy, unfinished, and missing features. But after watching millions of fans wait eight years only to see Riot kill the project, he decided getting something playable into people’s hands mattered more than perfection. Pre-orders open December 13, 2025 for $20, with the game hitting Steam exactly one month later.
The Rise and Fall Under Riot Games
Hytale started in 2015 when developers from the massively popular Hypixel Minecraft server decided to build their own game. The team wanted to create what Minecraft could have been with professional development resources, combining creative sandbox elements with structured RPG adventures, deep modding support, and cinematic creation tools. The 2018 announcement trailer went viral immediately, racking up over 31 million views and generating 2.5 million beta sign-ups within weeks.
Riot Games noticed. The League of Legends publisher initially invested as an angel investor in 2018, then acquired Hypixel Studios outright in 2020. At the time, it seemed like the perfect partnership. A small indie studio with vision and passion backed by a publisher with unlimited resources and experience running massive online games. CEO Aaron Donaghey said Riot shared their commitment to empowering players and would provide the support needed to deliver on Hytale’s enormous promise.
What actually happened was scope creep on a catastrophic scale. The original budget ballooned from $750,000 to $3.6 million, then kept climbing. Development timelines kept pushing. The team underwent a complete engine migration, scrapping years of work to start over on new technology. Beta testing was announced for 2021, then delayed indefinitely. By mid-2024, the game remained stuck in pre-beta with no clear path to completion.
Key milestones in Hytale’s tumultuous development:
- 2015: Development begins at newly formed Hypixel Studios
- 2018: Viral announcement trailer generates 31 million views and 2.5 million beta sign-ups
- 2020: Riot Games acquires studio, founder Simon Collins-Laflamme leaves shortly after
- 2021: Missed beta launch window, development continues privately
- 2024: Complete engine overhaul causes additional delays
- June 2025: Riot cancels project and shuts down Hypixel Studios
- November 2025: Collins-Laflamme repurchases IP and restarts development
- January 2026: Early access launch scheduled
Why Riot Pulled the Plug
On June 23, 2025, CEO Aaron Donaghey announced that Hytale development was ending and Hypixel Studios would wind down over the coming months. His statement acknowledged this wasn’t the outcome anyone wanted but explained they couldn’t bring Hytale to life in a way that would truly deliver on its promise. The mounting technical challenges, evolving creative vision, and maturing sandbox genre raised the bar beyond what seemed achievable.
Translation: the game became too expensive, too complicated, and too risky for Riot to justify continued investment. After burning through millions with no clear release timeline, the publisher cut its losses. Approximately 150 employees lost their jobs. Millions of fans who had waited years watched their most anticipated game die without ever becoming playable.
Collins-Laflamme had left Hypixel Studios shortly after the 2020 Riot acquisition. Watching his creation get canceled must have stung. But according to discussions with former developers, an earlier version of the game built on the original Legacy engine was much closer to completion than the later Forge engine rebuild. That Legacy version was reportedly about two years from launch when Riot took over and decided to start fresh with more ambitious technical foundations.
The Buyback That Saved Everything
On November 17, 2025, Collins-Laflamme announced he had successfully repurchased Hytale from Riot Games. The deal included the intellectual property, game assets, and freedom to resume development independently. He immediately began rehiring developers who had worked on the project, eventually bringing back over 30 former team members who knew the codebase and vision.
The plan was simple and radically different from Riot’s approach. Take the Legacy engine version that was nearly complete years ago, get it to a minimally playable state, and release it into early access. No more endless perfectionism or technical overhauls. Players have waited long enough, and they deserve to finally experience what Hytale could be, warts and all. Updates and improvements would come after launch based on player feedback.
Collins-Laflamme secured independent funding to support development without publisher interference. The team set up operations and dove back into code that hadn’t been touched in years. Just ten days after announcing the repurchase, they confirmed the January 13, 2026 early access date. It’s an aggressive timeline that only works because they’re not building from scratch.
What to Expect at Launch
Hypixel Studios is being refreshingly transparent about what early access means. This is not a mostly finished game that just needs polish. The January build will be genuinely incomplete with bugs, missing features, and rough edges everywhere. Collins-Laflamme has explicitly stated he doesn’t think the game is good yet, which is about as honest as pre-launch messaging gets.
| Feature | Early Access Status |
|---|---|
| Platform | PC (Windows) only at launch, Mac and Linux attempted later |
| Price | $20 with pre-orders opening December 13, 2025 |
| Game State | Unfinished alpha stage, buggy and incomplete |
| Core Features | Open world adventure, block building, basic crafting and combat |
| Multiplayer | Expected but functionality unknown |
| Mod Support | Planned but unclear what’s functional day one |
| Console/Mobile | Distant future consideration only |
The studio is actively discouraging people from pre-ordering if they’re not comfortable with extremely rough early access experiences. They want players who understand what they’re getting into and are willing to provide feedback rather than expecting a polished product. This represents a massive philosophical shift from Riot’s perfectionist approach that ultimately killed the project.
Can This Actually Work
The community response has been overwhelmingly positive despite the warnings about game quality. Fans who thought Hytale was dead forever are thrilled to get anything playable. The transparency about the game’s unfinished state builds goodwill rather than destroying it because players appreciate honesty after years of vague corporate messaging.
Financial reality matters though. Collins-Laflamme took on considerable personal risk buying back the IP and securing funding. The game needs to generate enough revenue through early access sales to support ongoing development. At $20 per copy, they’ll need hundreds of thousands of sales to sustain a team of 30-plus developers for the years required to finish the game properly.
The original 2018 announcement generated 2.5 million beta sign-ups. If even a fraction of those people buy the early access version, the finances work. But that’s eight years ago in internet time. How many of those original enthusiasts are still paying attention? How many will tolerate a genuinely buggy alpha after waiting this long?
What Hytale Actually Is
For anyone who missed the original hype, Hytale combines Minecraft-style block building with structured RPG adventures and extensive modding tools. The game features procedurally generated fantasy biomes, deep crafting systems, combat mechanics, and a story-driven adventure mode. Players can create custom content using accessible tools that span block-based construction, in-game scripting, moviemaking capabilities, and the Hytale Model Maker for collaborative 3D modeling and animation.
The promise was always about combining creative freedom with structured content. Minecraft excels at letting players build whatever they imagine but lacks guided progression or story. Traditional RPGs offer narrative and structure but limited creative expression. Hytale aimed to deliver both, creating a platform where players could experience developer-created adventures, build their own worlds, design custom minigames, and share everything through integrated modding support.
Whether the early access version delivers on any of this remains to be seen. The team is clear that major features may not function properly at launch. But the foundation exists, and Collins-Laflamme’s willingness to release an imperfect game suggests he’s confident there’s enough there to demonstrate the vision.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Hytale early access launch?
Hytale enters early access on January 13, 2026 for PC (Windows) via Steam. Pre-orders open December 13, 2025 on the official Hytale website. The game costs $20, and Hypixel Studios emphasizes this is a true early access release meaning it’s unfinished and buggy.
Why was Hytale canceled by Riot Games?
Riot Games canceled Hytale in June 2025 after nearly 10 years of development. CEO Aaron Donaghey stated mounting technical challenges, evolving creative vision, and the maturing sandbox genre raised the bar beyond what was achievable. The project underwent a complete engine overhaul that caused massive delays, and development became unsustainable financially and technically.
How did Hytale get saved after cancellation?
Original co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme repurchased Hytale from Riot Games on November 17, 2025. He secured independent funding, rehired over 30 developers who had worked on the project, and decided to launch an earlier version of the game built on the Legacy engine rather than the never-completed Forge engine rebuild that Riot had pursued.
Is Hytale finished or still in development?
Hytale is definitively not finished. Simon Collins-Laflamme has explicitly stated he doesn’t think the game is good yet. The January 2026 early access release will be buggy, incomplete, and missing features. The studio plans to improve it over time based on player feedback rather than waiting years to achieve perfection before launch.
What platforms will Hytale be available on?
Hytale launches on PC (Windows) only for early access. The team will attempt Mac and Linux versions later but made no guarantees. Console and mobile versions are described as distant future considerations only. The focus is entirely on getting a playable Windows build to players first.
How much will Hytale cost?
Hytale costs $20 for the early access version. Pre-orders open December 13, 2025. The studio actively discourages pre-ordering if you’re not comfortable with extremely rough, unfinished games. They want players to wait and see post-launch reactions before committing money if they have any doubts.
What is Hytale and how is it different from Minecraft?
Hytale combines Minecraft-style block building with structured RPG adventures and extensive modding tools. It features procedurally generated fantasy biomes, story-driven adventure mode, deep crafting and combat systems, and integrated tools for creating custom content including minigames, animations, and modifications. The goal is blending creative freedom with guided progression rather than pure sandbox or pure RPG.
Will the Hypixel Minecraft server be affected by Hytale?
No. The Hypixel Minecraft server operates as a separate entity and remains completely unaffected by Hytale’s development, cancellation, or revival. The server continues running successfully with massive player counts and recently celebrated its 12th anniversary with new game modes. Hypixel Studios developing Hytale was always a different company from the Minecraft server operation.
The Bigger Lesson
Hytale’s resurrection teaches a harsh lesson about modern game development. Riot Games had unlimited resources, industry expertise, and talented developers. They still failed because they pursued perfection over progress. The engine rebuild, endless scope expansion, and refusal to ship anything less than genre-defining resulted in nothing shipping at all. Nearly a decade of work and millions of dollars produced exactly zero playable game for the public.
Collins-Laflamme is trying the opposite approach. Ship something flawed but real, then improve it based on feedback from actual players. It’s messy, risky, and will generate plenty of criticism from people who expected polish after waiting eight years. But at least players get to finally experience Hytale instead of just imagining what it could have been.
Whether this works long-term depends on execution nobody can predict yet. The early access version might be too broken to retain players. The funding might run out before the game reaches a truly finished state. Console and mobile versions might never materialize. Plenty can still go wrong.
But for now, on November 29, 2025, Hytale exists in a state it didn’t just six months ago. It has a release date, a development team, independent funding, and a founder willing to take personal risks to make it real. The game that was supposed to rival Minecraft got canceled, resurrected, and scheduled for launch all in the same year. That’s either the greatest comeback story in gaming or the setup for an even more spectacular failure. We’ll find out which on January 13, 2026.