Hytale is back from the dead after Riot Games sale

According to engadget, Hypixel Studios has bought back the Hytale intellectual property from Riot Games in a surprising reversal. The studio is immediately rehiring 30 staff members who were laid off when Riot cancelled the project earlier this year. Hytale has been in development for nearly ten years and previously attracted over 2.5 million sign-ups for a beta that was supposed to launch in 2021. Hypixel co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme calls this a “new and exciting chapter” and says the founders are personally committed to funding development for the next decade. The company plans to announce an early access release date soon, though no specific timeline was provided.

The development rollercoaster

This whole situation is pretty wild when you think about it. Riot Games, owned by Tencent, originally acquired Hypixel Studios back in 2020 when Hytale was riding high with all those millions of eager players waiting. Then… nothing. Years passed, the 2021 release date came and went, and eventually Riot just pulled the plug entirely. Their official statement at the time was pretty brutal – they basically said they couldn’t “bring Hytale to life in a way that truly delivered on its promise.” Ouch.

Going independent again

So what changed? Well, the Hypixel founders are putting their own money where their mouth is. Collins-Laflamme says they’re personally funding development for the next ten years, which is either incredibly brave or completely insane. They’re not disclosing how much they paid Riot for the IP buyback, but you’ve got to imagine it wasn’t cheap. The interesting part is their new approach – they’re admitting this won’t be easy, fast, or perfect, but they’re emphasizing it’ll be “theirs” and built “one feature at a time, one bug fix at a time.”

A community-driven approach

Here’s the thing – Hytale was always supposed to be this massive Minecraft competitor with deep modding support and community creation tools. Under Riot’s ownership, it seems like the vision got lost in corporate bureaucracy. Now they’re talking about building it “together” with the community, which sounds great but also raises questions. Can a small independent studio actually deliver what a giant like Riot couldn’t? And after nearly a decade of development, will anyone even care by the time it actually launches?

What happens now?

The immediate plan is getting those 30 developers back on board and working toward that early access announcement. But let’s be real – we’ve heard promises before. The gaming landscape has changed dramatically since Hytale first generated hype, with competitors like Roblox dominating the user-generated content space. Still, there’s something compelling about a development team buying back their own game from a corporate overlord. It’s the kind of underdog story gamers love. Whether it actually results in a playable game… well, we’ll have to wait and see.