Minecraft challenger Hytale hangs in the balance as ex founder plans roadmap

Former Hypixel Studios co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme doesn't appear to have yet secured the rights to canceled Minecraft contender Hytale, which he sold along with the developer to Riot Games in 2020, but that hasn't stopped him from making big plans for its return. In a recent flurry of posts to X, he lays out a potential roadmap, talks about hiring devs, and even suggests what his release model will look like, despite previously cautioning that any potential deal would be extremely unlikely.

Built by a studio born from one of the most popular Minecraft servers, Hytale was a promising contender to Minecraft's crown. Unfortunately, its road to claim a place among our best sandbox games was stopped in its tracks when Hypixel Studios announced in June that Riot Games had called an end to development, and would be winding down the studio over the coming months. Shortly after that, Collins-Laflamme said he would "reach out" to the League of Legends and Valorant maker about picking the reins back up.

Despite cautioning that the chances of a successful return "are next to impossible," Collins-Laflamme has continued to talk about the project in detail, with a particularly eager rush of conversations in the past day. Indeed, when asked "how things are moving along" in a #SaveHytale thread on X, he even responds, "I won't say much as it could potentially hurt the process. Will share details the minute I can."

While he's not talking about the actual purchase discussions, Collins-Laflamme hasn't been shy about laying out his potential plans, were he to get his hands back on the project. He emphasizes that he'd want to release something as soon as possible to raise funds. "It's going to probably feel barebones day one but the exploration is going to be great. We would then spend many years improving the experience, of course."

Having previously stated that he would be willing to invest up to $25 million towards development, Collins-Laflamme now adds, "I would probably need to burn one or two mil max before release, then have [the] income of the early access fund the development. If things get tough I can cover until it gets better between updates." He suggests a lower-price entry version "for people who can't afford or simply want to try it before upgrading," along with the potential for supporter or founder packs for those looking to support at a higher tier.

As for the potential roadmap, Collins-Laflamme muses, "Survival and/or creative would be released first, just to get Hytale out ASAP. Minigames require a bit of infrastructure hardware work so it would take a bit of time. I don't want to make people wait; [we've] got to break the release curse. Later on, [an] adventure (story) mode, this would have a more complete 'survival' loop with more content."

Speaking about proximity-based voice chat, he also notes, "Today I had a chat with one of my developers that used to work on Hytale and he thinks it's possible to add it (back) in. I will personally make sure it happens, especially in time for minigames, this could be hilarious and chaotic, love it. Opens the door for new minigame genres as well." Collins-Laflamme then pauses briefly before restating, "If I get to buy the IP of course!"

It's certainly a lot of hypothesizing for a deal that may still not happen, but it's at least clear that Collins-Laflamme is serious about delivering the project he helped to create. He says he will "do my best to add a clause in a letter of intent that I can say publicly [that] something is being negotiated, so I can start actively hiring before the deal closes." For now, we'll just have to wait and see how the situation develops, but I'd certainly love this to become a surprise success story.

In the meantime, take a look through the best Minecraft texture packs in 2025 to give the original block-builder a fresh coat of paint, or try another of the best survival games on PC right now.

You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We've also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.