Hytale’s Collapse Blamed On Hypixel Studios Leadership, Not Riot Games

The cancellation of Hytale, the Minecraft-style MMORPG, and the closure of Hypixel Studios seem to boil down to a mix of executive mismanagement, misguided leadership, and an overly ambitious development path.

Many pointed fingers at Riot Games, but several former developers took to X/Twitter to set the record straight. According to ex-IT lead DevSlashNull, the real problem was internal. He accused the new leadership of ignoring the original team’s strengths and pushing the project off course. In his view, Riot wasn’t to blame — Hypixel’s own decisions were.

Other ex-devs backed that up, calling out constant reinvention as a major issue. Former principal engineer Silkey explained that some systems, which had already outpaced Minecraft’s, were rebuilt from scratch for no good reason. Former animation lead NinjaCharlieT added that many of the tools used to create Hytale’s trailers were later scrapped when the team switched engines, setting development back significantly and dismantling a lot of their early progress.

Hypixel co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme offered more behind-the-scenes context. He said the project was burning through $350,000 to $400,000 a month and that they passed up a better deal in favor of what looked like a safer option with Riot. While he defended CEO Noxy, he placed the blame on ambitious producers who, he says, treated Hytale like a stepping stone to impress Riot. Those same producers, according to Simon, made him feel like a stranger in his own studio.