It was supposed to be a huge sandbox playground full of possibilities, but that dream is now over.
Irish development studio Hypixel had been working on the Minecraft alternative Hytale since 2015. The first trailerachieved an impressive 61 million views on YouTube, and in 2020, Riot Games, a financially strong partner, came on board and bought the studio.
However, the studio is now closing and development of Hytale has been discontinued According to the developers, the promising project failed due to overly ambitious technical and content goals.
“Game development is hard.”
In a post on the game’s official website, the developers explain how Hytale came to an end. The statement reads:
The statement goes on to say that they have learned that game development is hard and that their ambitions were too much for the team to handle. A particularly critical point was the development of their own engine, which, even after an internal reboot, did not make the progress needed to continue the project.
According to the team, the goal was always to “create something original that appeals to a creative, passionate community.” However, as development progressed, the bar was set higher and higher. According to the developers, attempts to reduce the scope of the game or find other compromises failed or destroyed the vision for the game.
Thanks to Riot and fans
The announcement has nothing but praise for publisher Riot, saying that they were not only a good partner during development, but also a great support for the team whose studio is now closing. However, the studio’s final thanks go to the community, who always believed in the potential of Hytale.
The project originated from a Minecraft server of the same name, where millions of players could play mini-games they had created themselves. Incidentally, the server still exists, even though the game Hytale itself has been discontinued. However, Hypixel as a studio will be completely wound up and closed in the coming months.
