KeniPoyo
Hi! I’m KeniPoyo, the only person in Japan playing Hytale. Today I’m rounding up what Simon, the founder of Hypixel Studios (the team making Hytale), said this week.
He’s the guy who bought Hytale back. I’ll be doing this every week. The source is Simon’s own posts on X (replies left out), and I picked the ones about where Hytale is heading. All dates are in Japan time (JST).
Simon Collins-Laflamme is a Canadian developer who co-founded the huge Minecraft server Hypixel in 2013. Hypixel grew into one of the biggest servers in the world, and that same team decided to build their own game: Hytale. It was announced in 2018, and the studio is Hypixel Studios.
Here’s where it gets dramatic. In 2020 Riot Games (the League of Legends company) bought the studio, and development continued under Riot. Then in June 2025, Riot announced Hytale was cancelled. The studio shut down and it felt like the game might never come out. I honestly won’t forget how down the community was back then.
That’s when Simon stepped in. In November 2025 he announced he had personally bought the rights to Hytale back from Riot and revived Hypixel Studios. Early Access started in January 2026, and here we are playing it. So the person who made the game brought it back from the dead himself. Of course I want to follow what he posts every week.
Chapter 1 launched on 10/12, so I expected a week of pure celebration. Instead, Simon talked quite a lot about what comes after it.
This week in one minute
- After Chapter 1, Hytale leans harder into RPG. Crafting, progression and world generation are all set to change a lot
- Over 80% of the new team’s recent hires came from the modding community
- Simon himself is building a weapon and armor upgrade system (affixes)
- The $15,000 challenge is over. The Gobliterator has been beaten
① After Chapter 1: going all in on RPG, and the core game changes too (10/17)
This was the longest post of the week. Simon said one goal of Chapter 1 was to make it clear that Hytale will fully embrace RPG elements instead of shying away from them.
At the same time, he stressed that the fundamentals matter too: crafting, progression and the systems around them. And he said those will change a lot, and that he isn’t saying that lightly.
The current game loop (what you do and what you get for it) works for Early Access, but the future one will be something different. The headline is World Generation v2. In Simon’s words: “The world will be the main character.”
Simon even admitted that the current world generation, progression and crafting feel pretty dated. When the person who made it says that, you know he plans to change a lot.
It’s pretty bold for the head of development to flat out say “current crafting and progression are dated.” It surprised me a bit. But personally I find it reassuring that he knows it and is committing to fix it. As someone running a strategy wiki, I’m already worried about keeping up with the updates, though (lol).
② Over 80% of new hires came from the modding community (10/17)
In the same post, Simon wrote that Chapter 1 had one more purpose: testing whether the new team’s production setup actually works. The team was rebuilt from scratch only a few months ago, so they needed to learn where to hire and how to adjust their plans.
The result, in his words, was “amazing.” Over 80% of hires in the last few months came from the modding community.
That’s a dream for anyone making mods. As someone who makes a Japanese translation mod, it definitely caught my eye (lol).
③ Simon is personally building the item upgrade system (10/17)
In his Chapter 1 launch post on 10/12, Simon had already teased that the next few weeks would bring cozy content and work on item upgrades, to turn Hytale into a proper sandbox RPG.
According to the 10/17 post, while the team is busy with cozy content, Simon himself is reworking weapons and armor. That means adding affixes and ways to upgrade gear you craft or find.
Affixes are the bonus effects attached to weapons and armor, the kind you know from ARPGs.
He says the first version will look plain, but it’s a big change because it lets them add rewards all over the game. It’s built to grow, too: he mentioned future affixes like “minion damage” that combine with upcoming minion runes. Sounds like lots of build variety is on the way.
Simon has been playing ARPGs since the late ’90s and says a lot of inspiration will come from there, so I think we can get our hopes up a little.
④ Chapter 1 launch-day chaos, plus French and Spanish (10/12)
Launch day on 10/12 was a bit hectic.
- Right before launch, a GitHub problem stopped the update from going out, and for a while there was no release time at all. Simon joked that “Microsoft is fighting us.” The launch announcement finally came out around 11 PM JST
- The full trailer (2:40) dropped the same day
- On the boss fight showcase video, Simon commented: imagine how crazy this game will be a few chapters from now (lol). Honestly it’s already crazy
- French and Spanish (Spain) were added. The new Chapter 1 content isn’t translated yet, but he expects it to be updated soon with help from the community
Japanese isn’t an official language yet, so I make a Japanese translation mod for Japanese players.
⑤ The $15,000 challenge is over (10/12–10/15)
This was a challenge Simon set on 9/25: he’d donate $15,000 to the first streamer to beat the Gobliterator on Hard mode, with no armor, no potions, no glitches, in Hardcore (iron weapons allowed).
- 10/12: The HytaleModding team took over running it. Simon’s stance: it’s extremely hard so he doesn’t recommend it, it’s a sandbox so people will argue about what counts as cheating, and don’t come in expecting to win, just enjoy watching the streams
- 10/13: He shouted out two players who came close (tafthepenguin and gnormaluser), and said he was posting this “so they crumble under pressure.” What a guy (lol)
- 10/13: Taf was about to take on the boss
- 10/14: Taf_The_Penguin did it and won $15,000!
- 10/15: He bet ElRichMC $3,000 that they can’t beat it in under 35 tries. ElRichMC said “I’ll do it,” and Simon replied “Yes! MY MAN.” The post didn’t say exactly what they have to beat, so we’ll wait for more
Hard mode, no armor, no potions, Hardcore. Just thinking about it, I could never (lol). If you just want to beat it normally, check the Professor’s Gobliterator guide.
Bonus: a Technoblade tribute documentary (10/16)
An official documentary, “Technoblade Never Dies,” is in production, and they’re collecting fan art, animations and video tributes. As of 10/16 there were about 5 days left before the deadline. Simon is involved in the documentary himself. If you want to submit something, head to technobladeneverdies.com.
An American Minecraft YouTuber (real name Alexander) who started his channel in 2013 and blew up with Skyblock and hard-hitting PvP on the Hypixel server. His trademark was a pig with a crown, and his catchphrase was “Technoblade never dies.” He won Minecraft tournaments many times and passed 10 million subscribers. Sharp-tongued but hilarious, and deeply loved by his fans.
In August 2021 he revealed he had sarcoma, a type of cancer. He kept streaming through treatment and raised over $300,000 for sarcoma research. On June 30, 2022, in a video called “so long nerds,” his father read his final message, and fans learned he had passed away. He was only 23. In the Minecraft world, that day was huge news.
His ties to Hypixel run deep, since Hypixel was where he made his name. After his death, Hypixel set up an in-game memorial book, and about 377,000 messages were bound into books and given to his family. And in November 2025, Simon announced that Technoblade’s father had given permission to include something honoring Technoblade in Hytale.
The documentary is funded by Riot Games and Hypixel Studios, with profits going to charity. He’s someone you can’t leave out of Hypixel’s history, and I’m excited to see him show up in Hytale in some form one day. If you don’t know him, this is a great chance to watch some of his videos.
Simon’s posts this week (sources)
- 10/17 Looking back at Chapter 1 and what comes next
- 10/16 Technoblade documentary submissions
- 10/15 The bet with ElRichMC
- 10/14 Congratulating Taf
- 10/13 Two players who came close
- 10/13 Taf heads to the boss
- 10/12 Chapter 1 is live
- 10/12 The GitHub problem
- 10/12 HytaleModding runs the challenge
- 10/12 French and Spanish added
- 10/12 Full trailer announcement
- 10/12 Comment on the boss fight video
KeniPoyo’s take
I thought Chapter 1’s launch would wrap things up for a while, but Simon ended up sharing a lot more about the future than I expected. World Generation v2, reworked crafting and progression, item upgrades. If all of that lands, Hytale will feel like a different game again. A little exciting, a little scary.
I’ll round up Simon’s posts again next week, so check back if you’re curious. See you next week. Sayonara, Sayonara, Sayonara.
Simon’s posts are summarized and paraphrased. Images are from Hypixel Studios’ official press kit and similar sources. This is an unofficial fan site and is not affiliated with Hypixel Studios.
