Other games would have crumbled under such chaos, but Hytale is fighting back. However, the lead developer is angry – and wants to harness that anger.
The story surrounding the game Hytale, which many refer to as a “Minecraft lookalike”, is perhaps one of the more bizarre in gaming. The project was supposed to become much bigger and better under Riot than ever planned. The dream seemed to have faded – but Hytale lives on. And the first release is just a few days away, although the new and old owner primarily feels anger.
What happened? A few years ago, Hytale had a real hype. The game looked good, preparations for the release were underway, and everything pointed towards success. However, Riot took over the development, the release was postponed – because the entire game was to receive a significantly higher quality. It is actually surprising, considering how good Hytale looked years ago.
The project was then threatened with cancellation, until the original owner offered to buy the game back from Riot – and that is exactly what happened. Hytale is being saved. But this rescue was not only expensive but also requires many sacrifices in the future.
This is what the chief says: The last 4 years were probably not at all productive, as Simon Collins-Laflamme reports on X. He recently bought back Hytale from Riot and reveals how he perceived the last years and what the prevailing emotion is: anger.
People ask me how I feel after I got Hytale back and as we approach the release. Honestly, the transparent answer is anger.
He also elaborates on this and explains how the last years were wasted from his perspective.
The game has insane potential, but 4 years of development have gone into rebuilding the engine instead of gameplay features. This leaves us with a 4-year gap that we need to catch up on, and with a newly built engine that will now never be used.
If you don’t invest in gameplay, you don’t just lose time. You lose momentum, iterations, and player feedback. Now the focus has to be on “gameplay first” and on rebuilding trust by actually releasing things at a fast pace.
“It’s a damn miracle”
A project that has been developed “into nothing” for 4 years would probably be a reason for most developers to simply bury the matter. After all, the initial hype of Hytale has nearly been extinguished, and only the biggest fans remain. But they are not intimidated and hope to still realize the vision of Hytale. The developers have reportedly achieved nothing less than a miracle in recent days, as stated:
It’s a damn miracle that we were able to save Hytale. It was barely playable. All foundations were broken. The camera, movement, combat, crafting, building, the game loop, the sounds, the rendering. Everything. Just everything was wrong.
That they were apparently able to make quick corrections here is not a reason for the developers to slow down. Quite the opposite. Making up for lost time will be a project that will likely take many, many months:
It should have taken years to fix this, but within weeks we got the game back into a playable, fun state. And now, instead of slowing down or celebrating the release, we have to keep pushing forward for years to catch up on the lost time.
He concludes his summary by stressing the anger once again. Collins-Laflamme does not want this anger to turn into a negative mood, but instead to harness it:
So yes, I feel anger. But I transform this anger into focus and execution. I am putting in more money, more time, and personal sacrifices to deliver the game that this vision deserves.
When can you play Hytale? The release of an “Early Access” version of Hytale is imminent. Starting from January 13, 2026, you will be able to play Hytale – but not on Steam. Hytale will initially only be offered on the official game website. A large launch on Steam is not planned yet, as they expect a lot of negative reviews from players who “are not yet well informed about the work of the
The developers prefer to collaborate with the core community, listen to their feedback, and not get too bogged down by negative reviews on Steam – there will be time for that later.
