Riot Games bought Hypixel Studios, the studio behind Hytale, in April 2020. Five years later, on June 23, 2025, it announced it was canceling the game and shutting down the studio. Simon Collins-Laflamme, co-founder of Hypixel, negotiated for months to get it back, and on November 17, 2025 he announced he had bought Hytale from Riot. The game launched in early access on January 13, 2026. Today Riot has no stake at all: Hypixel Studios says it owns 100% of Hytale, with no investors or publishers.
Who’s who
- Hypixel: the famous Minecraft server that Simon Collins-Laflamme and Philippe Touchette opened in 2013. It’s a separate company and wasn’t part of the Riot deal.
- Hypixel Studios: the studio created to develop Hytale, unveiled in December 2018.
- Riot Games: the maker of League of Legends and Valorant. It was an investor in Hypixel Studios from 2018 and bought it outright in 2020.
Timeline: from the acquisition to the comeback
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| December 13, 2018 | Hytale is announced with a trailer that blows up on YouTube. Riot is already listed as an investor in the studio. |
| April 16, 2020 | Riot Games announces it’s buying Hypixel Studios. The goal was still to release the game in 2021. |
| 2021 | The studio delays the launch: it won’t come out before 2023. |
| July 2022 | Hypixel Studios announces it’s rebuilding the game engine in C++ to make it cross-platform, and that Hytale won’t come out in 2023 either. |
| June 23, 2025 | The end of Hytale’s development is announced, along with the gradual shutdown of Hypixel Studios over the following months. |
| August 13, 2025 | Collins-Laflamme confirms he’s in «active conversations» with Riot to buy the game. |
| November 17, 2025 | «Hytale is saved»: Collins-Laflamme announces he has bought Hytale from Riot Games. |
| Late November 2025 | The early access date is announced. |
| January 13, 2026 | Hytale launches in early access on PC. Riot congratulates the team on social media. |
What happened with Riot: why it bought Hypixel Studios
When the acquisition was announced, Hypixel Studios said the deal gave it a bigger budget, more security for the team and guidance from a company that knew how to launch and run games for years. Riot talked about taking an existing investor relationship «to the next level.» The studio kept operating independently, as a Riot subsidiary. The price was never made public.
The project grew a lot during those years. In 2022 the team decided to drop the original engine and write a new one in C++, designed to scale better and reach more platforms, consoles included. That switch meant redoing a big chunk of the work and pushed the release date back again.
Why Hytale was canceled in 2025
The June 23, 2025 announcement was signed by the Hypixel Studios team. It explained that the technical ambitions had grown so much that, even after restarting the engine, the game wasn’t as far along as it needed to be. The studio said it had considered cutting the project’s scope, but that doing so would have stripped away what made it special. Riot offered severance and help placing staff in new jobs. Hypixel’s Minecraft server kept running as usual, because it wasn’t part of the studio.
How Hytale came back: buying it back from Riot
After the cancellation, Simon Collins-Laflamme said publicly that he would try to buy the game. In August 2025 he said he had made a final counteroffer that, by his account, was ten times the actual market value, and he confirmed the talks with Riot. On November 17, 2025 he announced the deal. Riot explained that it was returning Hytale to its co-founder to give the community the best chance to play it.
In the official «Hytale is saved» announcement, the team explained how the project would move forward:
- 100% owned, with no investors or publishers. Collins-Laflamme and Philippe Touchette committed to funding the game for 10 years.
- They rehired more than 30 developers who already knew the game.
- They dropped the cross-platform engine from the Riot era and went back to the old engine, which was already playable, to launch as soon as possible.
- They warned it would be true early access: an unfinished, buggy game that would be built together with the community.
That engine switch is why consoles are coming later: we cover it in Hytale on consoles.
Hytale today, without Riot
Hytale has been in early access since January 13, 2026, is sold on the official store and gets frequent updates. The latest is Update 6 (August 2026), and Update 7, called Chapter 1, is scheduled for October 12, 2026. You’ll find the dates and what’s coming in Hytale release date. If you’re wondering whether it’s worth it, start with what Hytale is and how to get started and Hytale’s price.
On launch day, Riot congratulated the team on social media and Hytale thanked it for helping «bring it home.» Part of the community criticized this, given that it came from the company that had canceled the game six months earlier.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hytale owned by Riot Games?
No. It was between April 2020 and November 2025. Since the buyback, Hytale belongs to Hypixel Studios, which says it has no investors or publishers.
Why did Riot cancel Hytale?
Because development wasn’t progressing enough: the project had become very ambitious and the new engine hadn’t solved that. That’s how the studio explained it in June 2025.
Who bought Hytale from Riot?
Simon Collins-Laflamme, co-founder of Hypixel, together with Philippe Touchette, the other co-founder, who also funds it. It was announced on November 17, 2025. The price wasn’t disclosed.
Did the cancellation affect the Hypixel Minecraft server?
No. The server belongs to a different company and kept running as usual throughout the whole process.