(Image credit: Hypixel Studios)
Earlier this week, the Minecraft-inspired sandbox RPG Hytale faced cancellation. The decision was perhaps unsurprising, considering the longstanding rumors among even the most optimistic fans. Following the announcement, several of the game’s original developers, including those who departed the studio years ago, have begun recounting their experiences.
Among them is Simon Collins-Laflamme, the founder of Hypixel, who took to Twitter to share an extensive account of his early days in Hytale’s development. Back when the studio was independently operated, Collins-Laflamme recalls he was “burning maybe $350,000 to $400,000 a month on Hytale development—somewhat sustainable—but that was before Hypixel Skyblock and the server was on a decline, so I needed funding soon to keep going at such pace.”
Reflecting on this financial strain, Collins-Laflamme suggests that “perhaps that sense of limited funds urgency was beneficial in retrospect,” although the stress was undeniably heavy. Starting in 2018, Riot Games gradually became an investor, finally acquiring the studio in 2020. Collins-Laflamme himself left the company a year prior in 2019.
He explains, “I think the pressure of carrying the Riot Games label combined with a mega viral trailer, larger funding, and higher expectations made us doubt ourselves. Personally, I couldn’t meet these new lofty goals and was given an option to depart by Riot.” Nevertheless, Collins-Laflamme insists he trusted Riot’s backing. He divulges, “An unknown public fact is that I was offered WAY MORE money by a different company. I stepped away at the moment the deal was closing, as many can verify, but I chose Riot because I truly believed they would provide the team with a greater chance for success and more resources for the game.”
Elsewhere in his narrative, Collins-Laflamme recalls that Hytale appeared to be “maximum 2 years away” from launch in 2019 before its scope dramatically broadened. Other former developers have criticized the “unrealistic ambitions” imposed by upper management. Discussing the producers Hypixel employed post-acquisition, he echoes sentiments from another ex-developer, suggesting the studio’s issues “were all internal” and shouldn’t be attributed to Riot.
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