Hytale, a blocky survival RPG that started life inside a Minecraft server, is back in development after the game was canceled earlier this year. That's thanks to its creators buying the project back from Riot Games so they could revive it, ready for early access.
That's right, this isn't about Hytale being back in development and you'll hear another update on that in three years, if we're lucky. While the game is understandably in rough shape – last we heard, Riot confirmed it had been scrapped – the founder of the studio behind Hytale's creation, Simon Collins-Laflamme, confirmed that they plan to open up early access for Hytale as soon as possible.
Hytale has been bought back and revived by its founders
Collins-Laflamme revealed that he had bought back the rights to Hytale from Riot on Monday. “We did it. Hytale is saved. We have acquired Hytale from Riot Games,” he wrote on Twitter. “My plan? Get it out to you as soon as possible. No more waiting. You'll get to play it, rough edges and all. It won't be perfect on day one. My hope is that together we'll shape it into something really special.”
Collins-Laflamme is keeping expectations for Hytale low out of the gate, admitting that the four-year-old version of the game he and the new team, made up of 30 rehired developers very familiar with Hytale's inner workings, is in rough shape. While there's no firm release date for Hytale in early access, Collins-Laflamme and the team expect it to be in that state for at least three years before it gets a full release.
A longer blog post from the team now working on the revived Hytale goes into more detail about what those eagerly awaiting the game can expect from the project. That's where Collins-Laflamme confirms that a team of 30 will be working on Hytale, and that he has bought back the rights to the game with fellow Hypixel co-founder Philippe Touchette.
There is no higher power anymore. Hytale is now independently owned. Although they've been working on a crappy older version of the game, the reformed Hytale team expects to announce more details about early access in the coming days, so they're working fast.
It was also confirmed that while Hytale was scrapped under the Riot banner, the game's initial failure was not Riot's fault. It was then said that the problems with Hytale were due to its own leadership. Hopefully that won't be a problem now that the game has been given a second chance, and Collins-Laflamme commented on how cooperative Riot has been throughout this process, noting that the studio only wants the best for those who have remained hopeful that something might come of Hytale, even after it was canceled.
- Date founded
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September 1, 2006
- Subsidiary
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Riot Forge
- Head office
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West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
