Not content with its breakneck pace, Hytale dev slows down updates for the live game so it can be "more adventurous"

While I don’t think Minecraft is going anywhere, Hytale has already cemented its place as a sustainable competitor to the world’s biggest game. Its rollercoaster development has now stabilized, with millions of players signing up to take part in the early access launch. Developer Hypixel Studios has secured funds for several years of development, and is already hiring more staff to help build the spiritual sequel to the sandbox survival-crafter. It’s moving at a remarkable pace, yet founder Simon Collins-Laflamme already has plans “to speed up production” with a new update release cadence.

We’ve had two major Hytale updates (plus a number of smaller patches and hotfixes) since launch, and I’m constantly surprised by how quickly new features are rolling out to the sandbox game. There might be plenty of marks of its early access state, but the initial release build was already much more ‘complete’ and polished than I expected going in. However, attempting to get each individual overhaul ready for the stable live build is proving too much of a time sink, so Hypixel is adjusting its production schedule.

From here on out, pre-release builds will launch weekly, barring occasional downtime due to holidays, time off, or unexpected circumstances. These will test “new features, larger changes, and iterations,” and you should expect some measure of instability. Any potential problems will be clearly communicated, and there are automated backups, but Collins-Laflamme warns players to “always back up your own data if you plan to keep using the same worlds in [the] pre-release patchline.”

Rather than polishing these changes up immediately, these updates will only come to live build once the team is comfortable that it’s in “a good state.” Expect these to happen roughly every two to six weeks. Collins-Laflamme clarifies that “if we update the pre-release with five updates, the release will contain those five updates.” Hotfixes for both builds “can still ship at any time” if they’re needed.

For players and server owners, this allows more time between major releases to prepare and adapt, and Hypixel will publicly warn when a full release is incoming “a few days beforehand” so that it doesn’t come as a surprise. On the developer side, they’re able to spend “more time building, less time shipping.”

Don’t expect anything too special for this week; Collins-Laflamme notes, “we are getting into the rhythm of things and need to offset the cadence.” Honestly, I still feel like I’m only halfway through wrapping my head around the fundamentals of the base game, let alone the two extra updates we’ve already had.

For players who love to invest time in testing the latest tweaks, this is great news, and for people like me who move a little slower it should result in a little more breathing room between the big drops. Either way, we all win.

Beyond its fairytale resurrection, I’ve been seriously impressed with Hytale’s showing so far, and the development team continues to prove just how valuable clear and open communication with your players can be.