Minecraft lead dev says he’d “rather just play” Mojang’s hit over Hytale, and its creator understands why — “He is probably right to feel this way”

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Hytale is a brand new game gaining a lot of attention. It’s a sandbox survival RPG with block-based building, heavily inspired by Minecraft, and created by Hypixel Studios – the team famous for their incredibly popular Minecraft server. After a difficult development process, the game launched in Early Access on January 13th and has already attracted a massive player base.

The game has become popular enough to catch the eye of Jens Bergensten, the chief creative officer at Minecraft developer Mojang Studios. He recently shared his thoughts on it when asked if he had played it.

He mentioned trying out Hytale on Bluesky, and shared his impressions in a follow-up message. While he found the game polished, he admitted he’d prefer to play Minecraft. He acknowledged it’s still early in development and that modding will likely be a key feature, so he plans to revisit it later.

Some might think the developers of Hytale would be upset by that criticism, but Simon Collins-Laflamme, who founded Hypixel, actually agrees with Bergensten’s viewpoint and remains committed to continuing development and making the game even better.

Jeb recently shared that Hytale feels remarkably polished, which he called the best praise the team could receive. He explained that, as someone deeply familiar with the game genre and a harsh critic of his own work, he understands and considers negative feedback constantly. While he’s maintained for months that Hytale still needs significant development – a belief he still holds – that’s exactly why he continues to work on it tirelessly every day.

It’s fantastic to hear Jeb is planning to play again, and we hope he’ll get a better feel for what we’re aiming for with Hytale. We also want to thank the Mojang team for giving it a try, and we hope they now have a clearer understanding of our vision and are comfortable with us being part of the community.

It means a lot that Jeb, a game developer I greatly admire, thinks Hytale feels polished. He rarely comments publicly on other games, so his feedback is especially valuable. It’s easy to overlook just how intricate the design of Minecraft is, with all its features and details.

Collins-Laflamme explained that he sympathizes with someone who’d prefer to simply play Minecraft. He pointed out that the features that will make Hytale stand out – a focus on combat, adventure, exploration, and fantasy – haven’t been added to the game yet.

He’s understandably feeling this way, as we’re still building out the core features that will really set us apart. The game currently feels quite basic, especially early on, but we’re working on major improvements like World Gen V2. Right now, we don’t have things like dungeons, bosses, quests, or a story, but all of that is in the plans, and we have the team to deliver it.

Collins-Laflamme explains that projects like Hytale are what motivate the Hypixel team. He emphasizes they aren’t trying to compete with or replace Minecraft, but rather create something they’re passionate about. Having grown up with games like Warcraft, Diablo, and Dungeons & Dragons, he wants to recreate that same sense of wonder and inspire creativity in a new generation, just as those games inspired him.

Collins-Laflamme says Hytale will be significantly different from Minecraft, with a big focus on powerful modding tools and immersive fantasy worlds. They also plan to prioritize player-versus-player combat, so fans can expect more details on that soon.

It seems like Hytale will become more distinct from Minecraft thanks to Hypixel’s ongoing work. They’re planning to develop Hytale into an action-packed RPG with a strong focus on adventure, while Minecraft will continue to be a more relaxed game centered around creative building and open-ended exploration.

I’m really excited about the direction the developers are taking with Hytale, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops. If you want to support the game and try it out, you can purchase it through the official website and gain Early Access.

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2026-01-23 02:40