Last week, Riot Games pulled the plug on Hytale, a Minecraft-like sandbox game that had been in the works for over ten years. Fans were gutted, and since then, some big names have been floated as potential saviors for the project. One of those names, Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone, the guy behind Stardew Valley, has now made it clear he’s not jumping in to rescue Hytale anytime soon.
Hytale’s Background and Shutdown
Hytale kicked off back in 2015, developed by Hypixel. The idea was to mix the mini-games from their super popular Minecraft server with a fresh RPG-style, Minecraft-like sandbox built from scratch. It got enough hype that Riot Games, the folks behind League of Legends, poured money into it and ended up buying Hypixel in 2020. But last week, Riot called it quits, saying they couldn’t make Hytale live up to its big promises. They even tried to find investors or buyers to keep it going, but no luck—leading to layoffs and Hypixel’s studio facing closure.
Barone’s Response to Revival Buzz
Fans, desperate after waiting a decade for Hytale, took to social media to rally support. One fan even hit up Barone on Discord, pitching him to invest in saving the game, hinting it could pay off. Barone’s reply was a cautious “possibly,” but he wanted more details on the plan and why Hytale tanked in the first place. That “possibly” got fans excited, maybe too excited. Barone later told Rock Paper Shotgun he’s not actively trying to make anything happen. He said he’d listen if someone brought him a solid idea, but he’s not losing sleep over it since he’s busy with his next game, Haunted Chocolatier.
Barone’s been working on Haunted Chocolatier, a spooky chocolate-making life sim, since 2021. He took a break to drop Stardew Valley’s huge 1.6 update, but he’s back on his new project now.
A Glimmer of Hope for Hytale Fans
While Barone’s not diving in, there’s still a sliver of hope. Simon Collins-Laflamme, the original Hypixel founder who left after Riot’s acquisition, got pulled into the fans’ Save Hytale campaign. He’s talking about reaching out to Riot with a possible $25 million investment to maybe get a bare-bones early access version out with a small team. He warned fans to keep expectations super low, though, since big companies rarely bring canceled projects back to life. He’s promised to give it his best shot for the community that supported him and will share updates as things move along, but it’ll take months to sort out.
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