Who Owns Hytale?

Hytale originated from the team behind the Hypixel Minecraft server, one of the most popular Minecraft multiplayer servers in the world with over 24 million unique players. Simon Collins-Laflamme and Philippe Touchette, who co-founded the Hypixel server in 2013, established Hypixel Studios in 2018 to develop an original game that would build upon the creative sandbox concepts they had refined through years of Minecraft server development.

The Hytale announcement trailer, released in December 2018, became a viral sensation, accumulating over 55 million views on YouTube and generating enormous excitement in the gaming community. The trailer showcased a block-based sandbox game with significantly more advanced graphics, animation, and gameplay systems than Minecraft, promising features like adventure mode with a narrative campaign, extensive modding tools, and a built-in model maker for creating custom content.

In April 2020, Riot Games acquired Hypixel Studios, providing the financial backing and publishing expertise needed to develop Hytale into a major game release. The acquisition was valued at an undisclosed amount but represented Riot Games' first major investment in a game outside its core League of Legends and Valorant franchises.

Development of Hytale has taken longer than initially anticipated, with the team announcing in 2021 that the game would shift from a traditional PC release to a cross-platform launch including mobile devices. This pivot required significant reworking of the game's engine and systems. As of 2025, Hytale remains in active development with the team providing periodic updates to the community. The game is expected to feature a free-to-play model when it eventually launches, supported by cosmetic microtransactions rather than pay-to-win mechanics.