Hytale, a Minecraft-esque sandbox game that was funded by League of Legends developer Riot Games, has been abruptly cancelled. Minecraft is one of the biggest games on the planet and has inspired a lot of “clones” over the years, but arguably one of the most promising looking ones was Hytale. It had a similar pixelated, block-y aesthetic and an emphasis on building whatever you wanted within a sandbox environment, but was matched with the depth of an RPG. Minecraft obviously has combat and more to do beyond building, but it largely all in the name of gaining materials to craft stuff.
Hytale was aiming to be more of a fantasy game with the style and similar ideas to Minecraft and as a result, it gained a lot of attention. The first trailer for Hytale has 60 million views on YouTube and a lot of hype was built around it. The success kept building as League of Legends and Valorant developer Riot Games eventually began supporting the game by funding it and outright buying developer Hypixel Studios. On top of the core experience that was being developed by Hypixel, Hytale would’ve also supported player-made content that would’ve unlocked all kinds of new potential for the game.
Hytale Cancelled After 10 Years of Development
Unfortunately, after 10 years of development, Hytale has been cancelled. Hypixel CEO Aaron Donaghey took to Twitter to announce the game’s cancellation and plans to shut down the studio, revealing that the team was unable to achieve their ambitious vision after internal reboots and was unwilling to reduce the scope of the game. Donaghey even revealed that Riot was a good partner that tried to help the team find other investors to keep the project alive, but they were unable to make it work.
“Game development is brutally hard – especially when you’re trying to build something original that speaks to a creative, passionate community,” said Aaron Donaghey. “Over time, as our vision evolved and the genre matured around us, the bar kept rising. Our technical ambitions grew more complex, and even after a major reboot of the game engine, the team found that Hytale still wasn’t as far along as it needed to be. It became clear we’d need a lot more time to get it to a place where it could support the ambitious vision for the game.
“We looked at reducing scope, adjusting timelines, and finding new angles to keep moving forward. But each of those options would have meant compromising on what made Hytale special in the first place. It wouldn’t have been the game we set out to make. And it wouldn’t have been the game you deserve.”
This is the unfortunate nature of game development and much larger teams have also crumbled under the same circumstances, so it’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a very transparent message for Hytale fans and also one that shows an uncompromising vision, ensuring that they’d rather release nothing than give fans something underwhelming. As of right now, it’s unclear what will become of this team, but it’s a commendable effort nonetheless.
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