Riot Games ended development of Hytale and began winding down Hypixel Studios in June 2025. That was not the end of the game: its original founders bought it back from Riot in November, resumed development independently, and released it in Early Access on January 13, 2026. Riot no longer owns Hytale.
What happened to Hytale?
Hypixel Studios was founded in 2018 and became known for developing Hytale, a block-based game that Riot described as combining a creative sandbox with roleplaying depth. Riot announced it had completed its acquisition of the studio on April 16, 2020 (Riot’s acquisition announcement).
On June 23, 2025, Riot announced that Hytale development was ending and the studio would be wound down. The original founders later reacquired the game, brought developers back, and restarted work outside Riot. Hytale is now available in Early Access.
Did Riot shut down Hypixel Studios?
Yes. In June 2025, Riot ended the project and began winding down Hypixel Studios over the following months. Hypixel co-founder Noxy said the team had concluded it could not deliver the game in a way that lived up to its promise. He described the project’s technical ambitions and scope as having grown, and said the team did not believe that cutting scope or changing timelines would preserve what made the game special. This was the studio’s stated rationale, not a public account of Riot’s internal deliberations. PC Gamer reported the cancellation and wind-down on June 23, 2025.
#1 Best Overall
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- Battle Pitch in an Epic Adventure-Take on Pitch and his evil nightmares in a deep and intuitive adventure combat game
- Unique Abilities and Upgrades-Unlock power-ups such as weapon upgrades for your character
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- Team up in Multiplayer-Swap between any of the Guardians in drop-in-and-out four-player squad based multiplayer on consoles
The report did not disclose how many employees were affected, so no reliable layoff total can be given.
How did Hytale return?
On November 17, 2025, founder Simon Collins-Laflamme announced that the original founders had acquired Hytale from Riot. The Hytale Team said it had rehired more than 30 developers and that the founders were personally committing to fund the project for ten years. Those were the founders’ commitments and team figures at the time, not independently audited numbers. The Hytale Team’s reacquisition announcement also said the project would return to its original vision.
Rank #2
- Join Forces with Your Favorite Characters From the Film-Play as one of the classic childhood legends including: North, Tooth, Bunnymund, Sandman, and Jack Frost
- Battle Pitch in an Epic Adventure-Take on Pitch and his evil nightmares in a deep and intuitive adventure combat game
- Unique Abilities and Upgrades-Unlock power-ups such as weapon upgrades for your character
- Explore Legendary Guardian Realms-Experience the imaginative worlds from Rise of the Guardians
- Team up in Multiplayer-Swap between any of the Guardians in drop-in-and-out four-player squad based multiplayer on consoles
The founders said the revival would use an older, playable version of the game’s engine rather than the cross-platform engine they had been developing. They described that newer engine as significantly behind in gameplay. This is their explanation of the revival approach; it does not establish that the engine alone caused Riot’s cancellation.
In a November 28, 2025 update, the Hytale Team said it had rehired more than 40 former and new team members, bringing the team to 50, and announced an Early Access date. Those figures are a later company-reported snapshot than the November 17 count. The team’s Early Access announcement set the release for January 13, 2026.
Rank #3
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- THAT'S LIFE: To help his Mom win the Dimmsdale "Veg-off," Timmy wishes her garden full of life. What he doesn't know is his dearly departed pet gerbil Eddie is buried in the garden!
What is Hytale Early Access like?
Hytale entered Early Access on January 13, 2026. At launch, the Hytale Team listed Exploration Mode, Creative Mode, modding, and multiplayer as available. Adventure Mode, official minigames, World Gen V2 as the default spawn, and social features were not yet included. The team described the build as unfinished and unpolished, with bugs expected. Read the official launch post for its release details.
Development has continued since launch: the official blog listed Update 6 on August 27, 2026, and pre-release Update 7 on September 3, 2026 (Hytale’s official news page).
What happened to the Hypixel Minecraft server?
The Hypixel Minecraft server is separate from Hypixel Studios and Hytale. PC Gamer reported in June 2025 that the server was operated independently of the studio and would continue as usual. The studio’s wind-down therefore did not mean the Minecraft server was shutting down.
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