Right, here’s your prescribed dose of actual nice news in the games industry for the week. Hytale is back from the dead! Despite a decade’s worth of development, the game was canned with Hypixel Studios forced to completely shutter. Hypixel founder Simon Collins-Laflamme did say he wanted to talk to previous owner Riot about re-acquiring Hytale, and as it turns out, that’s exactly what he did!
“A new and exciting chapter for Hytale begins today,” begins a blog post from the Hytale Team. “We are thrilled to announce that we have acquired Hytale from Riot Games. While it didn’t make sense for them to continue developing it in its existing form, they ultimately wanted what’s best for players, and that’s for us to eventually play a revised version of the game. We are grateful to Riot Games for making this possible.”
The good news continues on from here, as apparently more than 30 developers “who know this game inside and out” have been rehired, “with additional returns expected in the coming days. Together, we are going back to the original vision for Hytale. We are fully independent and personally committed to funding Hytale for the next 10 years.” Gosh, ain’t that just a nice thing to read for once?
Said blog post outlined a few behind the scenes bits too. For one, the game has switched back to the Legacy Engine it was being made on previously, with the game now being playable and the post explaining that it “lets us build a game rather than an engine. It’s the version that feels like what Hytale was supposed to be.”
In the coming days, an early access date will apparently be announced, and pricing alongside that. Setting some expectations, the post notes that early access will take at least a few years, and that at launch the game will only feature exploration mode, creative mode, and modding – no minigames or adventure mode, but they are both still planned. Good luck with it all, Hytale team!
