The Hytale release date won't arrive before the holidays, but Minecraft's biggest rival still feels closer than ever

What a rollercoaster it's been for Hytale this year. When Riot Games pulled the plug on the project, it felt like we'd never get to play the ambitious sandbox game, which was born from an incredibly popular Minecraft server several years ago and was looking to take a slice of Mojang's pie. However, the original founder of Hypixel Studios, Simon Collins-Laflamme, recently swooped in to save the project and revive the studio he started. The aim now is to move rapidly, and get the game in players hands to build it alongside the community. In a post on X, Collins-Laflamme confirms that he'll be announcing the Hytale release date tomorrow, but has warned that fans should "reset expectations" of a super speedy launch.

Hytale is so unapologetically Minecraftian, I initially had reservations about it actually offering something new. If you asked a lesser trained eye to identify the game based on its recent showcase (which you can watch below), chances are they would say it's Mojang's behemoth. However, by leaning more into fantasy, adventure, RPG elements, and more fluid base building that's more like Terraria and Valheim, according to Collins-Laflamme, there are certainly some key differences. It'll also lean even more heavily into modding, encouraging user-generated content and community run servers by taking "0%" of their earnings for the first two years of the game's life.

Under Riot's stewardship, Hytale moved at a sluggish pace. With Hypixel resurrected and under Collins-Laflamme's control, you can now expect the opposite. Despite admitting that Hytale is "not good enough" at the moment, Hypixel wants to get the game out in the wild in early access as soon as possible, but at an "aggressively low" price point. With how fast things have been moving, there was a genuine expectation that we could be playing the game before the end of 2025. However, that now won't be the case.

"Let me break it to you and reset expectations, the acquisition took just long enough to prevent us from doing a release before Holidays," Collins-Laflamme says. "That's why it took us so long to announce the date, we tried to push as hard as we could but legally there is just too much to do and we would be cutting too close to Christmas."

In the same post on X, he also confirms that the Hytale release date will be revealed tomorrow, November 28 at 7am PST / 10am EST / 3pm GMT / 4pm CEST. I'll update this story with the official date following the announcement.

While the news that it won't arrive before the Holidays may be disappointing, I suspect the release date won't be too deep into 2026, given how intent Hypixel is to get the game in your hands. Remember as well that this is an early access launch - a very early early access launch by the sounds of things, despite how long the game has technically been in development for. Hopefully with some fresh wind in Hypixel's sails, and the help of the community, Hytale will rapidly evolve into the true Minecraft rival it has the potential to become.