Hytale accumulated over 420,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch following its early access launch.
Hytale launched into early access yesterday to an overwhelmingly positive reception, following nearly a decade of anticipation, delays, and an unexpected revival. The game is a sandbox RPG with multiplayer elements, and has already been dubbed “Minecraft 2.0” by much of the community.
Following its release, the game skyrocketed to become the most-watched title on the livestreaming platform Twitch, peaking at over 420,000 concurrent viewers across thousands of streams around 12 hours ago.
At the time of writing, the game remains among the top-watched games, rivaling the numbers for GTA V, VALORANT, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike 2.
Its early success is evident across multiple fronts. According to the developers, Hytale recorded more than 2.8 million concurrent users at launch, while pre-orders have reportedly already covered two years’ worth of development costs.
However, this positive launch comes after a turbulent and uncertain development period for the game.
A turbulent road to Hytale’s release
Hytale began development in 2015 by the Hypixel team, a group of creators behind the popular Minecraft server of the same name. Initially self-financed, the project later received funding from Riot Games, before the studio was fully acquired by the publisher in 2020.
Despite the backing, the game was gradually sidelined amid slow progress and sporadic updates. In April 2025, Riot Games ultimately shut down development, citing the project’s overly ambitious scope.
In a surprising turn of events, Hytale has since made a comeback. Riot sold the game back to the Hypixel developers, who swiftly resumed work and accelerated progress, enabling the early access launch on 13 January.
Hytale is currently available for download via its official website, with pricing tiers ranging from US$19.99 to US$69.99.
