Riot Games is firing on all cylinders in 2020. Valorant, the studio’s online multiplayer FPS, is now in closed beta and Legends of Runeterra, its competitive card game, is in open beta and launches at the end of the month. Now Riot’s made another huge announcement, confirming the acquisition of Hytale developer Hypixel Studios.
Hypixels Studios, for those who aren’t familiar, is a very young studio. It was opened in 2018 self-funded, but quickly received millions in angel investment from parties including Riot Games. The studio’s founders were the well-regarded developers of Minecraft’s Hypixel server, best known for its popular game modes and mini-games.
Hytale, Hypixel Studio’s first game, will be based on the concept behind the Hypixel Minecraft server. Like Minecraft, it’s a voxel-based multiplayer game. While still a sandbox RPG, Hytale will focus more on structured gameplay rather than Minecraft’s freeform adventuring. Hytale is currently planned for release in 2021, though it may be in a beta or early access capacity.
According to Riot’s acquisition announcement, Hypixel will retain its current studio structure for the ongoing development of Hytale. Hypixel will also establish a new office in Northern Ireland. Hypixel’s founders say that the Riot acquisition will play an important part in the studio realizing its vision for Hytale. Hytale joins a roster of high profile games at Riot including League of Legends and several other upcoming titles.
Hytale releases on PC in 2021.
