Despite being owned by Riot, Minecraft spiritual successor Hytale says it hasn't been impacted by layoffs at the League of Legends studio

Hytale, the spiritual successor to Minecraft, hasn't been impacted by the layoffs at Riot.

Earlier this week, Riot announced it would be laying off 530 total workers, or 11% of its overall staff, as well as shutting down initiatives like Riot Forge. Now, Hypixel Studios, which was purchased by Riot some years ago, has put out a statement reassuring fans that its upcoming game Hytale hasn't been impacted whatsoever by the layoffs at the parent company.

Yesterday, Riot Games made an announcement regarding their future plans, which include layoffs. We've since received a number of questions from our community regarding the impact on Hypixel Studios. We want to clarify that Hypixel Studios is not affected by this announcement, and…January 23, 2024

The "production plan for Hytale has not changed," writes Hypixel in the tweet above, signalling that there's been no impact to Hytale's development at all. That's a little bit surprising, considering the vast number of staff Riot laid off earlier this week, but it's no doubt a major relief for anyone looking forward to the upcoming game.

Article continues below

If you're unfamiliar with Hytale, it's the ambitious product of the Hypixel Minecraft server, where the developers decided to make their own game instead of continuing in Minecraft itself, due to changes to Minecraft's EULA. Hytale originally entered production all the way back in 2015, before being eventually announced three years later in 2018.

However, progress hasn't been what audiences were expecting in the year since. Last month in December, Hypixel put out a statement revealing Hytale was still in the prototyping phase, leading many fans to despair that the game might never see the light of day. It's been a long wait for the Minecraft spiritual successor, and it doesn't look like the end is in sight.

Read up on our guide to the best games like Minecraft if you're after something new before Hytale eventually rolls around.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.