Studio of founders Minecraft server Hypixel announces first game

The two co-founders of the Minecraft server Hypixel, with other community members, have started a game studio called Hypixel Studios. At the same time, the studio announces its first game: Hytale, a sandbox game based on Minecraft.

The developer shared the Hytale announcement trailer on YouTube on December 13. The graphics are similar to Minecraft and the different modes too. The game has Adventure, Mini-Game and Creative mode. The latter includes a toolkit, which allows players to create cinematics, scripts, models and animations. The fantasy setting is reminiscent of the Minecraft: Dungeons update, which is scheduled to release in 2019.

Hypixel starts with just over forty team members and is therefore smaller on average than the larger developers. Still, the developer has already attracted major investors. According to co-founders Simon Collins-Laflamme and Philippe Rouchet, they have received advice and financial help from, among others, Riot Games, known from League of Legends.

Riot CEO Dylan Jadeja confirms this to The Hollywood Reporter. “Since meeting the Hypixel team in 2016, we have been deeply impressed by the support from their community, their vision for sandbox gaming and belief in individual contributions to a common cause. So far we have not been disappointed by what we have achieved have seen from Hytale,” says Jadeja.

Players can sign up for the beta test via the website. The game will initially come out for Windows and MacOS, but releases on other platforms are not excluded by Hypixel Studios. An exact release date has not yet been announced.