Riot Games Axes Minecraft Clone and Shuts Down Studio Behind It—Another Metaverse Dream Crashes
Riot Games just pulled the plug on its would-be Minecraft killer—and the entire studio building it. No 'creative sandbox' here—just another corporate sandcastle washed away by the tide.
The move comes as gaming giants keep chasing the metaverse gold rush, burning cash on copycat projects while players shrug. Another $100M down the drain, but hey—at least some VC got a new yacht.
One less competitor for Notch's blocky empire. Now if only someone would disrupt the disruptors...
Hypixel Studios closes its doors permanently
Hypixel Studios was founded in 2015 by the creators of a popular Minecraft server network. It almost immediately commenced the development of Hytale, a voxel-based sandbox game involving building and RPG elements.
The game released a trailer in 2018 that garnered over 60 million views. Riot Games acquired Hypixel in 2020 for an undisclosed amount, with plans to launch a beta in 2021.
That beta never materialized, and development was repeatedly delayed. In 2021, Hypixel decided to completely change Hytale’s game engine to solve the technical shortcomings which also reset the development timeline.
Even after the reboot, Donaghey said the project still “wasn’t as far along as it needed to be” to meet the development team’s goals.
“Our technical ambitions grew more complex,” he surmised.
Donaghey explained that the team debated whether to scale back features or extend timelines, but choice included sacrifices that could have lost what made the game compelling.
“Each alternative WOULD have meant compromising on what made Hytale special in the first place. This is a painful decision. We still believe in Hytale. We believe in the team, and are forever grateful to every member, past or present, who poured their love into the game,” the CEO said.
Donaghey thanks Riot Games for its support
Donaghey told his followers that Riot Games supported them throughout Hytale’s troubled development, and will continue doing so during the studio’s closure. He called Riot’s involvement “thoughtful” and “human,” adding that the team has given them “generous severance and resources to find what’s next.”
“Game development is brutally hard,” he continued, “especially when you’re trying to build something original that speaks to a creative, passionate community.”
He credited the studio’s team for its commitment through demands and thanked the community for believing in the project during its long development cycle.
“To our community: thank you,” he remarked. “Your belief in Hytale kept us going through thick and thin.”
Though the game will not be released, he noted that the team is proud of what they built and will carry the lessons forward. “Even though we’re closing this chapter, the spirit of Hytale and everything we hoped it could be will stay with us.”
Despite the studio’s closure, Hypixel’s popular Minecraft server will not be affected. That server is managed independently from Hypixel Studios and will continue operations as usual.
Minecraft community faces cyber threat
Hytale’s shutdown news comes just five days after the Minecraft community uncovered a malware campaign targeting players. Hackers are now using a multi-stage Java-based attack to steal data from active players, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Check Point.
The campaign, first detected in March 2025, uses fake modding tools disguised as cheat scripts for Minecraft, such as Oringo and Taunahi. The malicious tools are distributed through GitHub repositories and require a working Minecraft runtime to execute, specifically dangerous to day-to-day players of the game.
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