The team can now “focus” on the end of the match
Riot Games has an answer to Minecraft and Roblox, and it's called Hytale.
The creator of League of Legends and Valorant announced that it has acquired Hypixel Studios, the team behind Hytale, a bound-to-be huge sandbox RPG slated for release on PC in 2022.
"Hytale combines the scope of a sandbox with the depth of an RPG, immersing players in a procedurally generated world where teetering towers and deep dungeons promise rich rewards." It's more than that, though – there are tools for creating mini-games and other user-generated content.
Riot Games previously invested in and advised Hypixel Studios. Under the new plan, Hypixel will become a subsidiary and "operate as an independent studio, with Riot as the parent company." They are opening a home studio in Northern Ireland to "recruit support staff to help with the day-to-day running of the business, as well as a new quality assurance team to assist in the continued development of Hytale".
The acquisition might seem like an obvious next step, but the developers didn't automatically seek out Riot as a potential partner. Hypixel had "many partnership opportunities coming up" and explored them, according to new CEO Aaron "Noxy" Donaghey." your answer! "
The creators have also gone out of their way to say that the Hypixel Minecraft mini-game server and the corresponding team at Hypixel Inc. will not be affected, and Hytale developers will not be employees of Riot.
Even as an outside observer - someone who doesn't keep tabs on Hytale but has still heard the name a bunch over the past two years - it's an interesting story. Riot has already stumbled with acquisitions and is juggling a lot of upcoming games, but I can already see the stars aligning for Hytale.
Hypixel Studios is still "finalizing" the game's business model (it will likely be free), but players will be able to monetize their in-game content as long as they follow "a lightweight set of rules".
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