Hytale, the Minecraft competitor announced back in 2018, has been canceled, and its development team is closing down.
Hypixel Studios confirmed that the ambitious, Riot Games-supported title inspired by Minecraft has ceased production, with the studio itself now winding down operations.
Hytale was first revealed in December 2018 with a trailer that has amassed over 61 million YouTube views. At the time, the official description read:
Hytale merges the creative freedom of a sandbox with the narrative richness of a roleplaying game. It drops players into a procedurally generated universe teeming with perilous towers and mysterious dungeons—each promising great rewards. The game enables everything from meticulous block-by-block building to custom scripting and minigame design, all accessible through intuitive yet powerful tools.
Enthusiasm for Hytale was driven partly by the expertise of its creators, the co-founders of Hypixel, one of the world's most celebrated Minecraft servers. League of Legends creator Riot Games initially backed the project and later acquired the studio.
Now, however, the Hytale vision has come to an end. “This isn’t the outcome any of us—whether at Hypixel or Riot—had hoped for,” said a statement from studio co-founder Noxy posted on the Hytale website. “But after years of effort, adaptation, and exploring every option, we ultimately realized we couldn’t bring Hytale to fruition in a way that lived up to its original promise.”
So what happened? According to Noxy, Hytale’s technical goals grew increasingly ambitious. Even after restarting development with a new engine, the team “still felt Hytale wasn’t advancing as quickly as it needed to.”
“We realized it would take significantly more time to realize the grand vision we had for the game,” Noxy added.
Alternatives like scaling back the scope or delaying the release were ruled out, as they “would have meant watering down the very essence of what made Hytale unique.” “It wouldn’t have been the game we originally envisioned,” Noxy explained, “and it wouldn’t have been the experience you deserved.”
As for Riot, the company attempted to find outside investors to salvage the project, but those attempts, it seems, did not succeed. Impacted employees are said to be receiving “generous severance packages and assistance to transition to their next roles.”
News of the cancellation follows just a few months after Hypixel shared a Spring 2025 progress update. In that post, the team outlined some of the development milestones reached earlier this year and even debuted a new character first teased in late 2023. Engine improvements were also noted, with several enhancements showcased.
