Riot-owned Hypixel Studios shuttered as Minecraft-like sandbox title Hytale cancelled
Riot Games-backed Hypixel Studios has announced it is closing its doors and scrapping its debut Minecraft-like sandbox game, Hytale, after a decade of development.
The details:
A decade after Hytale entered development, the studio has confirmed that the game has now been scrapped in a new statement posted to its website. It explained that over the years, the bar for the sandbox genre has continued to rise, and despite attempts to keep up, including a full reboot of its engine, the development team came to the conclusion that Hytale would still require time and resources it did not have access to. “We looked at reducing scope, adjusting timelines, and finding new angles to keep moving forward,” the statement reads. “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.”
As a result of the project’s cancellation, Hypixel Studios is also shutting its doors. It explained that Riot is no longer providing funding to the studio and there has been no success in finding potential partners. Over 100 employees are being let go with “generous severance and resources to help them find what's next”.
Hypixel, originally behind the massively popular Minecraft server of the same name, began developing Hytale in 2015. The title was set to be a blend of an RPG and the server’s beloved minigames, with the studio receiving millions in funding and later being acquired by Riot in 2020.
