Hytale was canceled five months ago. Now it’s back — and I’ve got questions

Why this comeback actually matters for players

Hytale just pulled a full-on resurrection. Five months after Riot shut it down and dissolved Hypixel Studios, cofounder Simon Collins-Laflamme bought the IP, rehired a chunk of the original team, and says he’s returning to the game’s “original vision.” As someone who’s followed Hytale since that megaton 2018 trailer (60 million views and counting), this caught my attention because it could finally turn seven years of hype and heartbreak into something we can actually play-likely via Early Access.

• Hytale’s IP was reacquired on November 17, 2025 by cofounder Simon Collins-Laflamme, with support from fellow cofounder Philippe Touchette.
• 30+ former devs are back on the project; the team says it’s funded for ten years.
• The plan is to steer back to the original creator-friendly vision-before Riot-era scope creep.
• Early Access is “as soon as possible,” but the current build is “messy” and “janky.”

Breaking down the announcement

The basics first. On November 17, Simon wrote, “We did it. Hytale is saved. We have acquired Hytale from Riot Games.” Riot’s own framing was surprisingly magnanimous, describing the handover as giving players the best chance to experience a revised version of the game. Remember, Riot invested early, fully acquired Hypixel Studios in 2020, then pulled the plug on June 23, 2025. Within a week of that cancellation, Simon publicly pledged up to $25 million of his own money if that’s what it would take. Now he’s followed through, with Touchette co-financing.

The team says over thirty former developers-people who “know this game inside out”—have been rehired, with more coming. The studio is independent again, and they claim a decade-long funding horizon. That’s a bold statement in an industry where “we’ve got runway” often means “we have a plan, not infinite cash.” Still, having founders who grew the Hypixel Minecraft server empire at the helm again gives this a credibility boost.

The real story behind “returning to the original vision”

What does “original vision” actually mean for Hytale? Back in 2018, the pitch was intoxicating: a blocky, handcrafted fantasy world (Orbis) with a proper adventure mode, distinct biomes, creatures like Kweebec and Trork, and—crucially—powerful creator tools. Hypixel promised terrain editors, live-scripting for on-the-fly tweaks, and an external Model Maker so modders didn’t need to wrestle with obtuse pipelines. It was Minecraft’s creativity married to a curated RPG playground. That’s the version that lit up YouTube.

Under Riot, ambitions ballooned: cross-platform goals, deeper tech, and a major engine overhaul (they even talked about a Java-to-C# shift) to support security and scale. None of that is inherently bad, but scope creep is how projects slide into development purgatory. Simon’s message implies a refocus on something playable and moddable first—and platform ambitions second. If they truly prioritize a strong PC build with day-one creator tools and dedicated servers, that’s the right call. Players don’t need another “platform”; they need a game.

Early Access: the smart path—with real risks

Collins-Laflamme says the current build is “disorganized” and “janky,” and that tracks with a team that’s been through cancellations, tech pivots, and now a rapid restart. Early Access makes sense for a systems-driven sandbox—Palworld proved that “fun now, polish later” can work if the loop hits. But there are pitfalls.

• Scope control: Ship the core. That means a stable survival/adventure loop on Orbis, a handful of standout biomes, and modding hooks that don’t break every patch.
• Creator tools: Terrain editors, live-scripting, and Model Maker need to be usable, documented, and supported. If modders can’t trust the API, they’ll bail.
• Multiplayer reality: Hypixel knows servers, but anti-cheat, UGC safety, and clear monetization rules (no pay-to-win) are non-negotiable.
• Clear pricing: The team says details are coming “in the days ahead.” Make it simple. No founder’s packs stuffed with FOMO cosmetics before the game proves itself.

One more hard truth: “funded for ten years” doesn’t guarantee ten years of updates. We’ve seen well-meaning roadmaps evaporate when revenue doesn’t materialize. The best signal of long-term health will be a steady cadence of meaningful patches and creator-first communication, not a promise.

Where Hytale fits in 2025’s sandbox arms race

The landscape has changed since 2018. Roblox and Fortnite’s UEFN own huge slices of the UGC market. Dreams came and went. The bar for sandbox survival climbed thanks to games that deliver big systems fast, even in Early Access. Hytale doesn’t have to beat those platforms; it has to feel different. A curated, lore-forward adventure with robust modding and the charm of those early Kweebec/Trork teases still has room to win—especially if it nails discoverability for player-made content without turning into a storefront first, game second.

As a player who clocked too many hours in modded Minecraft and Hypixel minigames, I don’t need every feature on day one. I need to believe that if I build something cool in Hytale, the devs won’t yank the ladder out from under me with a rewrite or a walled-garden policy shift. Independence helps here. So does clear licensing around mods, a stable scripting API, and support for dedicated servers.

The gamer’s perspective: cautious hype

I’m genuinely happy this project escaped the grave. Founder buybacks this clean are rare, and Hypixel’s community pedigree matters. But I also remember the years of silence, the tech pivots, and the feature creep. My ask is simple: prove the loop, ship the tools, talk to your modders every week, and let players break your game in Early Access. If Hytale leans into what made it explode in the first place—adventure first, creation always—it might finally become the sandbox RPG we’ve been waiting for since 2018.

TL;DR

Hytale is back under its original cofounder after Riot canceled it in June. The team’s independent again, 30+ devs have returned, and Early Access is on the table. I’m cautiously excited—now show the core game and the creator tools working, then build from there.